Improving the lives of those with chronic kidney disease
Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI), which improves healthcare for vulnerable populations using advanced data science and clinical experts, is contributing its capabilities to support elements of the “Advancing American Kidney Health Initiative” announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) earlier this month.
The HHS initiative’s aim is to improve the lives of the 37 million patients who suffer from chronic kidney disease and more than 726,000 who have end-stage renal disease. There are nearly 100,000 Americans waiting on the list to receive a kidney transplant. Kidney disease ranks as the ninth leading cause of death in America, costs Medicare $114 billion a year and represents one of the most significant expenses for the VA’s health programs.
PCCI is contributing to the initiative through a grant to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s Miquel Vasquez, MD. Specifically, PCCI will be applying its proficiency with advanced data science applied to electronic health records to aid at-risk patient identification and develop predictive modeling. This effort is in support of preventing and mitigating kidney disease, keeping patients out of hospitals, and helping find different ways to define and manage kidney disease.
“We are very proud to contribute PCCI’s unique combination of advanced data science and clinical expertise to this important initiative,” said PCCI’s President and CEO, Steve Miff, PhD. “This program, under Dr. Vasquez, the grant principle, is critical to of millions of Americans who are suffering from kidney disease. We are excited that PCCI’s experience applying healthcare data in clinical settings with veterans and other groups prone to kidney disease is aiding the kidney health initiative.”
Members of PCCI’s advanced analytics and clinical teams are participating in the initiative’s research studies and work groups, helping advance the program’s goal of transforming the way kidney disease is prevented and treated.