[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Sarah McConnell
Marketing & Communications Manager
(800) 749-AAKP (2257)
[email protected]
Forum on Critical Care and Acute Renal Failure Involves AAKP
Acute Kidney Injury Rates Jump in Past Four Years
Washington DC – On February 7, 2017, the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), the oldest and largest independent patient-led kidney advocacy organization, participated in the National Forum on Critical Care and Acute Renal Failure at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center. AAKP was one of over 30 of the nation’s leading voices on renal issues to participate in the forum sponsored by the Foundation for National Critical Care Policy and Baxter Healthcare. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is up more than 13% from just four years ago, with nearly four million patients suffering from the condition which can be triggered by many chronic conditions or sepsis. Mortality for patients suffering from AKI is six times higher than that of patients experiencing heart failure.
“The number of Americans with acute kidney injury has reached epidemic levels and it is urgent that leaders join together to discuss both implications and potential solutions,” said Paul T. Conway, President of AAKP and a member of the Steering Committee for the National Forum on Critical Care and Acute Renal Failure. “The Forum is a broad collaborative effort designed to help formulate a consensus on steps policy leaders, supported by patients and clinicians, could undertake to improve long-term outcomes for patients diagnosed with AKI.” Conway, a transplant recipient who has managed kidney disease for over thirty years, is an experienced policy-practitioner with past appointments under three presidents and service as a former Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Resources for the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Richard Knight, Vice President and Chair of Public Policy for AAKP, spoke at the Forum and said, “acute kidney injury is an issue that AAKP has been intensely focused on as a patient advocacy organization. As kidney patients, we know first-hand that the devastating costs of kidney failure reach well beyond health and income security – they pose a threat to family stability, dreams and personal aspirations.” Knight continued saying, “AAKP is committed, as a partner organization, to helping policy leaders develop sensible solutions as soon as possible.” Knight is a small business owner and former senior Congressional staffer who spent several years on dialysis before receiving a kidney transplant.
Other Forum participants included some of the nation’s foremost nephrologists and medical experts, drawn from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, major universities and institutions including Vanderbilt University, University of Pittsburgh, Emory University, the University of Michigan, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and the Cleveland Clinic.
Participants discussed the full range of issues surrounding AKI and patient care, from what is currently known about the condition and effective strategies for treating AKI in the ICU to achieving improvements in care through better training and education at the provider level and identifying and achieving policy changes at the national level.
AAKP is bipartisan in their relationships and non-partisan in their operations. Within the Executive Branch, AAKP works closely with Federal agencies responsible for research, healthcare and reimbursement policies that impact kidney patients. These agencies include the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Assistance (CMS), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the CMS Center for Medicaid and Medicare Innovation (CMMI), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Within the U.S. Congress, AAKP elevates kidney disease issues with individual Senators and Congressional leaders, key Senate and House Committees as well as the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
For more information about AAKP and its programs, visit www.aakp.org or call 1-800-749-2257.
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Founded in 1969, AAKP is the largest and oldest independent kidney patient organization in America. Governed by a patient-majority Board of Directors, AAKP conducts national education programs designed to better inform kidney patients, care-givers and policy-makers about the true impacts of kidney disease, prevention efforts and treatment methods. AAKP publishes RenalLife Magazine which has a circulation of over 20,000 and appears in over 5,000 dialysis centers. The organization executes a national advocacy strategy in conjunction with allied kidney organizations designed to insert the patient voice into proposed policies, research efforts and care deliberations before the Executive Branch and the U.S. Congress.
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