In July 2019, an Executive Order was signed to launch the Advancing American Kidney Health (AAKH) initiative to transform the way we prevent and treat kidney disease in the U.S. This initiative will improve the lives of those with kidney disease, expand options for patients, and reduce healthcare costs.
To accomplish the goals of AAKH initiative, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), created the End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Treatment Choice (ETC) payment models to encourage preventative kidney care, home dialysis, and kidney transplants. To support the ETC model’s focus on increased kidney transplants, CMS, in collaboration with Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA), established the Technical Assistance, Quality Improvement, and Learning (TAQIL) contract. The TAQIL contract is responsible for the development of the Kidney Transplant Learning Collaborative (KTLC). Much of this work is based on the very successful HRSA Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative and the more recent Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Collaborative Innovation and Improvement Network, or COIIN, study.
TAQIL, through the KTLC, will bring HRSA, CMS, transplant centers, Organ Procurement Organizations (OPO), and the nation’s largest donor hospitals together to generate increased quality and cost-savings to Medicare using systematic quality and process improvement, and greater quality of life to Americans with ESRD. This work will be supported by National Faculty, two National Faculty Chairs, and a Leadership Coordinating Council made up of more than twenty organizations in the field organized into Quality Improvement (QI) teams enrolling 80% of the OPOs and transplant programs plus major donor hospitals throughout the country, which will be led by QI Coaches. Specifically, the KTLC shall engage transplant centers, OPOs, large donor hospitals, patients, and donor family members to identify highly effective practices currently in use at exemplary organizations and spread the use of these practices throughout the kidney transplant community.
The Alliance will serve as a member of the Leadership Coordinating Council to support the TAQIL efforts.
