Change text size:

Chronic Kidney Disease

Español

The goals of the CKD Project are to detect the incidence and decrease the progression of CKD, improve care among Medicare beneficiaries through provider adoption of timely and effective quality of care interventions, beneficiary education; and key collaborations for system change at the state and local level.

Chronic kidney disease is the ninth leading cause of death in the U.S. It affects 11% of the U.S. population over the age of 65, and those affected are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease and kidney failure. Florida currently ranks third in the nation in the incidence of CKD. (United States Renal Data System USRDS, 2007).

Early manifestation of CKD in individuals with diabetes is often underdiagnosed due to the absence of an annual urinary microalbumin measurement to identify kidney damage. While early kidney disease has no symptoms, if left undetected, it can progress to kidney failure, which requires dialysis or transplant.

The cost to Medicare for managing CKD is high. Medicare beneficiaries with CKD (non-ESRD) account for 16.5% of Medicare costs in the year the disease is identified, and 11.1% in the next year. According to the United States Renal Data System, the savings to Medicare for each patient who does not progress to dialysis is estimated to be $250,000 per patient.