This week, the Department of Health and Human Services, the American Society of Nephrology, and the National Kidney Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding to create an education, awareness, and prevention campaign regarding kidney disease, as called for in President Trump’s Executive Order on Advancing American Kidney Health. The campaign will aim to improve health and prevent worsening outcomes for the more than 30 million Americans with chronic kidney disease.

HHS Secretary Azar released the following statement:

“Most Americans who suffer from kidney disease don’t even know it. To raise awareness and provide them with opportunities to improve their health, we look forward to working with nephrologists, other healthcare providers, patients, payors, innovators, and public health professionals inside and outside of government. This is just one step in the President’s kidney initiative, the first major effort by a President to improve kidney health since Medicare began covering end-stage renal disease patients in 1972. Alongside this important public health work, HHS will reform payments and regulations so that fewer Americans suffer kidney failure, more options are available for dialysis patients, and more organs are available for transplant. Together, these efforts will transform how we care for kidney disease in America—and improve the lives of millions of Americans suffering from it.”

For more about the Advancing American Kidney Health initiative, see: https://aspe.hhs.gov/pdf-report/advancing-american-kidney-health

To read the announcement from the National Kidney Foundation, see: https://www.kidney.org/news/aakh-announced-public-private-partnership-nkf-asn