Nephrologists drive transformative outcomes through government's coordinated care program serving high-need patients

DENVER, Oct. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- DaVita today announced performance year one clinical outcomes achieved in partnership with nearly 1,300 nephrologists across the U.S. through value-based care arrangements designed to enhance the lives of Medicare patients with kidney disease. As the broader health care community continues to explore value-based care arrangements to improve health outcomes in the U.S., DaVita commends the efforts from likeminded specialty care providers leading the movement.

These efforts have helped lead the kidney care community through scaled participation and investment in these programs, which are part of the Comprehensive Kidney Care Contracting (CKCC) option within the government's voluntary Kidney Care Choices (KCC) model — a value-based care demonstration that began on Jan. 1, 2022, as the largest government model for kidney care.

"This program relies on the understanding that kidney care in the U.S. has been fragmented and that a system that better coordinates these care silos is better for our patients. When our patients do better, they can live a better life and cost the system less money. Those savings can be wrapped around to provide even better care — and the cycle continues," said Dr. Gregory Spin, clinical leader for the Northern California Kidney Care Choices group and founding partner of Summit Nephrology. "We have worked hard to share best practices across our program, and DaVita has amplified that process by bringing learnings from other participants."

Together with participating nephrologists, DaVita launched 11 value-based care arrangements in 2022 and has since doubled that footprint to 22 Kidney Contracting Entities (KCEs). An evaluation now available for the first performance year (PY1) demonstrates that these value-based care arrangements result in better patient outcomes, which, over time, should lead to decreasing cost expenditures. This includes engaging patients in their care earlier and supporting access to kidney transplants for patients managing their kidney health.

Physicians and providers in the CKCC program improved outcomes for patients through collective quality metrics, with a 16% industry increase in optimal start rates for kidney patients transitioning to dialysis. Reducing unplanned starts leads to more optimal outcomes for patients, with care teams better coordinating their kidney and non-kidney care needs as well as improving interventions to help keep them healthy and out of the hospital, while also reducing high health care costs.

"Our focus at the launch of the program was to provide robust support for our nephrology partners, and we're encouraged by the current momentum. Though scaled transformation takes time, we continue to trend positively into the third year of the program," said Dr. Amy Schuerman-Gen, chief medical officer for DaVita Integrated Kidney Care (DaVita IKC). "Our vision for care innovation is taking shape, with CKCC laying a vital foundation for lasting change. The model's emphasis on care coordination and patient engagement has already led to encouraging health outcomes, and we're optimistic about the program's potential for continued success."

DaVita and its nephrologist partners have already seen significant progress over the course of the CKCC program and expect the impact on outcomes and cost savings will continue to improve. Achievements include:

• Embedding care team members in 68% of nephrology practices, providing care to shared patients directly at the site of care.
• Overseeing approximately 31,000 patients across dialysis centers of multiple providers, remotely, and in nephrologist offices.
• Enabling 2.4x more DaVita patients to have a planned start on home treatment through patient education, care management and transition support.
• Screening 67% of patients for depression remission with a baseline PHQ-9 across 11 KCEs, supporting holistic care of both physical and mental health.
• Increasing patient activation by 13%, indicating higher patient engagement across patient populations — inclusive of people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and people with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) who do not treat at DaVita.

Care coordination is fueled in part by DaVita's tech-enabled platform, with more than half of participants either leveraging DaVita's co-designed EHR with Epic or allowing DaVita access to another platform. This foundation helps to meet patients earlier with crucial identification and education to help slow progression to kidney failure and avoid dialysis. From PY1 to current year-to-date, DaVita has increased CKD education by 39% via Kidney Smart®, an award-winning, interactive community and virtual education program, for patients aligned with CKCC practices.

From coast to coast, participation in CKCC has allowed for a broad evaluation of the positive impact value-based care at scale can have for kidney patients.

"As we continue in the CKCC demonstration, I look forward to working collaboratively with our DaVita IKC partners and others to tackle difficult challenges we face in patient-centered care," said Dr. Alec Otteman of Associated Nephrology Consultants in St. Paul, MN. "We continue to work through how to best support patients to prevent hospitalizations and readmissions, and our DaVita IKC partners can create wrap-around support for medication reconciliation and transition of care post-hospitalization."

For more information about DaVita IKC's programs and results, visit DaVita.com/IKC 

About DaVita Inc.
DaVita (NYSE: DVA) is a health care provider focused on transforming care delivery to improve quality of life for patients globally. As a comprehensive kidney care provider, DaVita has been a leader in clinical quality and innovation for more than 20 years. DaVita cares for patients at every stage and setting along their kidney health journey—from slowing the progression of kidney disease to helping to support transplantation, from acute hospital care to dialysis at home. As of June 30, 2024, DaVita served approximately 265,100 patients at 3,124 outpatient dialysis centers, of which 2,672 centers were located in the United States and 452 centers were located in 13 other countries worldwide. DaVita has reduced hospitalizations, improved mortality, and worked collaboratively to propel the kidney care industry to adopt an equitable and high-quality standard of care for all patients, everywhere. To learn more, visit DaVita.com/About.

Forward-Looking Statements 
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations. Various important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements, including the risks identified in our U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. DaVita disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement contained in this press release, except as may be otherwise required by law.

The statements contained in this document are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of CMS. The authors assume responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the information contained in this document.

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SOURCE DaVita