Community Care:
The DaVita Vision for Global Citizenship
Caring for
Our Patients
DaVita is leading the charge in changing the industry by helping prevent or delay kidney failure, increasing access to high-quality, affordable care and managing related conditions.
Paul, DaVita patient
Increasing Access to Integrated Kidney Care
People on dialysis face many challenges, from frequent hospitalizations, medication management and limited support with navigating the complexities of our health care system. Integrated kidney care can help people on dialysis by providing a nephrologist-led care team, individualized care planning, transplant support and more.
Only a small number of Medicare dialysis patients have access to lifesaving, integrated care today. The PATIENTS Act could change that by improving care integration for more Medicare dialysis patients who depend on treatment multiple times each week.
Patient-Centered Care
In 2018, DaVita democratically developed Our Caring Behaviors. These Behaviors, which we call We Care: Welcome, Empathize, Connect, Actively Listen, Respect, Encourage, are a set of guidelines that serve as a reminder to bring more intentionality and consistency when striving to deliver an exceptional caring experience to our patients.
In addition to improving patient experience, we focused on keeping patients out of the hospital. We launched a formal Transition of Care program (which included teammate training, patient care steps and patient education) that reduced hospitalization readmission rates in 2018 that equated to 20,000 fewer days in the hospital for our patients. (1)
1. Internal DaVita data. 2018.
Integrated Kidney Care
DaVita® Integrated Kidney Care (IKC) has led the industry in providing coordinated, holistic kidney care for more than two decades, and currently manages the total care for more than
25,000 patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), of which more than 13,000 have end stage renal disease (ESRD).
During 2018, DaVita IKC provided education, resource support and care coordination to help patients better manage their kidney disease and transition smoothly to dialysis. Through engaging with patients and collaborating with kidney doctors (nephrologists), 75 percent of our patients transitioned to dialysis with a permanent access (a device that can access blood in order to clean it) in place. DaVita IKC outperformed the rest of the industry in early access placement by nearly 100 percent. (1)
In 2018, our IKC risk-arrangement programs demonstrated compelling results. (1)
1. Internal DaVita data. 2018.
Innovating Home Dialysis Care
Dialyzing at home means our patients can have more time for moments with their loved ones while receiving the life-saving treatment they need. When patients dialyze from the comfort of home, they are able to have better control of their treatment schedules, giving them more time for themselves, their families, their jobs, and the activities they enjoyed before starting dialysis.
Patients who perform peritoneal dialysis (PD) at home may have fewer hospitalizations,(1) lower Medicare costs (2) and better transplant outcomes. (3)
DaVita experienced our highest-ever growth year, supporting more than 25,000 patients who dialyze at home—the largest population of home dialysis patients in the U.S. We have 1,500 home dialysis centers across the U.S., (4) which offer support and home dialysis training programs for patients and we’ve grown our home dialysis program nearly four times as fast as our in-center program. (5)
We are advancing and transforming patient care through innovations such as home remote monitoring, telehealth, predictive analytics and other programs to meet with patients where they are and help them thrive in the home environment. These technologies also help our care teams ensure they are delivering the right interventions at the right time to suit each patient’s unique clinical needs.
1. Fried L et al. Am J Kidney Dis. 1999 May;33(5):927-933. 2. USRDS 2016 Annual Report. 3. Molnar, MZ et al.Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 7: 332–341, 2012. 4. Nephrology News & Issues. Sept. 2018. 5. DaVita internal data.
A CHAMPION FOR TRANSPLANT
DaVita’s innovation story is about transforming care across the entire kidney care continuum, from chronic kidney disease (CKD) to transplant, ensuring the right treatment at the right time—something we’ve done for over 20 years.
We believe that kidney transplant is often an ideal treatment option for eligible patients with kidney failure.
Above, watch DaVita Kidney Care patient Dr. Hank Williams talk about why he chose a kidney transplant.
Caring for Our Nation’s Most Vulnerable Patients
DaVita® Health Solutions delivers comprehensive care programs—including house calls, post-acute care and 24/7 care coordination and support —through at-risk arrangements with health plans to manage their high-risk patients who have multiple chronic conditions. For nearly two years, DaVita Health Solutions programs have served approximately 7,000 patients in partnership with more than 600 local primary care physicians, specialists and extended care teams.
PROGRAM RESULTS WERE EXTREMELY POSITIVE IN ITS FIRST YEAR: (1)
1. J. Ryan, M. K. Abrams, M. M. Doty, T. Shah, and E. C. Schneider, How High Need Patients Experience Health
Care in the United States: Findings from the 2016 Commonwealth Fund Survey of High Need Patients, The
Commonwealth Fund, December 2016.
Educating Patients and Care Partners
KIDNEY SMART®: A LEADER IN EDUCATION
Educating patients and their care partners about CKD (from diet and nutrition to treatment options, such as home dialysis and transplant), can make an incredible impact on their quality of life and, ideally, help slow the progression to dialysis. In 2012, we launched Kidney Smart, a no-cost educational program provided to the community.
Kidney Smart has educated more than 160,000 people since its inception (1) and helped lead to positive outcomes for many DaVita patients who attend a class.
START SMART
Start Smart is our educational program for new in-center hemodialysis (ICHD) patients in their first 90 days with DaVita. Launched in 2018 to all clinics, the program includes Start Smart Welcome, Start Smart Modality Choice and Start Smart Psychosocial Support. These programs help ease the transition to dialysis, educate patients on modality options and improve patient outcomes including fewer missed treatments, reduced hospitalizations and increased PD conversions.
1
1. Internal DaVita data. 2012-2018.
Patient Resources
DaVita.com provides comprehensive online tools to help patients (regardless of where they dialyze) and their care partners better understand and manage their health.
myDaVita
A personalized online platform to help people manage their kidney disease
GFR Calculator
A calculator that helps determine the stage of kidney disease a person is in by calculating a globular filtration rate (GFR)
DaVita Diet Helper TM
A robust diet-planning tool for people following a kidney-friendly diet
DaVita Education Videos
Videos to help people understand kidney disease, from kidney disease basics and patient testimonials to knowing the treatment options available and more
Kidney Disease Risk Quiz
Questions that can help people find out whether they may be at risk for kidney disease
DaVita Health Portal
A portal that allows DaVita dialysis patients to track their lab results, health records, prescription management and more
DaVita International
DaVita is improving health care for patients with kidney disease in the U.S. and abroad. In 2018, we achieved several milestones in our work globally:
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Our dialysis patient volume grew 18 percent, and we are treating over 24,000 patients across more than 230 clinics.
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In our largest international markets, Brazil and Germany, we added 11 and 14 dialysis clinics in 2018, respectively.
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In Colombia, we launched a "teledialysis" pilot and achieved a peritoneal dialysis (PD) penetration rate of 20 percent.