MADISON, Wisc.—KDQOL COMPLETE, the Web-based subscription service that scores and reports results for the Kidney Disease Quality of Life survey (KDQOL-36), has added four European language translations of the KDQOL-36 survey and patient reports, for a total of 10 languages.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) require dialysis clinics to assess patients' health-related quality of life annually. The CMS clinical performance measure (CPM) states that clinics must offer the KDQOL-36 to adult patients—including non-English reading patients for whom survey translations are available. Thus, the four new translations expand the population of dialysis patients who can now be given the survey and reports.
New European language translations include French, German, Italian, and Polish. KDQOL COMPLETE also offers language translations in English, Spanish, French Creole, Chinese (simplified), Tagalog, and Korean
KDQOL COMPLETE was developed by the non-profit Medical Education Institute (MEI) and launched in May 2009. The service helps clinics score and report KDQOL-36 survey results to comply with CMS requirements. Results can identify patients at risk for hospitalization or death and enable interventions to help improve their outcomes.
"We created KDQOL COMPLETE because we wanted to help dialysis clinics implement the first-ever mandate to actually ask patients about how they are doing and use that information to create a plan of care," said MEI Executive Director Dori Schatell. "The response has been gratifying. More than 3,300 U.S. dialysis clinics now use the service. Most importantly to us, with KDQOL COMPLETE, patients receive feedback about their health-related quality of life scores, and evidence-based tips for how to improve them."
