Screening for Prevention

Why is it important for the program to promote a state-based approach?
I’m not saying the state is more important than the national approach, or vice versa. It’s important to have both. There are different things the state-based approaches can accomplish. Having a national approach may be useful in terms of promoting awareness within the state departments of health. State-based approaches may help more for things like Medicaid. There are nuances with states; some states have more vigorous programs. Some states have extensive community health center programs that can be leveraged with CKD screening or surveillance programs in the state.

How will the NKF and CDC use the results of the pilot program down the road?
We can’t promise that this will lead to anything. It’s going to be up to the group and, ultimately, the CDC, but if the findings of this study demonstrate high success in recruiting the target population, high retention of participants through screening at one year, good engagements of the participants with their healthcare clinician—all those will potentially be used to build on this experience.

Can local renal professionals in these areas do anything to help promote these screenings?
There will be an opportunity for professional volunteers. We have budgeted for phlebotomists to be paid on site because that’s such an important function, the way the blood is drawn, the risk of needlestick. Certainly, we will have physicians on-site to council the participants with their on-site results. They can really get a lot of education out of that, and benefit, in terms of discussion and satisfaction.

Is there anything else you would like to add?
This is a really exciting program. I’m delighted that the CDC has taken this on and is addressing chronic kidney disease, not only with this program, but in a number of other ways. This really has helped bring pubic health attention to chronic kidney disease. It’s an exciting time in this area because it’s really just beginning. We’re probably about a decade or more behind things like cholesterol screening. RBT