Cross-Industry Collaboration to Combat Chronic Kidney Disease

Henry Ford Health, in collaboration with Premier and AstraZeneca, is leveraging data and technology to improve patient health outcomes and reduce the cost of chronic kidney disease (CKD) care.

Henry Ford Health has joined the Uncover CKD – Care Collective, a strategic partnership between Premier, AstraZeneca and leading U.S. health systems to address undiagnosed and rising rates of chronic kidney disease (CKD). This initiative was launched through Henry Ford Innovations’ strategic partnerships with both Premier and AstraZeneca.

The initiative’s goals are to:

• Identify patients with undiagnosed CKD
• Raise awareness of undiagnosed CKD among health care professionals
• Educate and support health systems that want to improve or develop and implement their strategies for CKD diagnosis, treatment and management.

A national leader in health equity initiatives, Henry Ford, through the Collective, is focused on reducing health disparities by co-designing solutions to raise awareness and advance the prevention, detection and treatment of undiagnosed CKD in marginalized and underrepresented groups.

An estimated 1 in 7 U.S. adults have CKD, and of these adult patients, 90 percent do not know they have CKD. Black Americans are more than 3 times as likely to develop kidney failure compared to White Americans , while Latinos face a 1.3 times greater risk. For the US health system, the cost of risk factors related to CKD is close to $1 Trillion – 30% of all healthcare spending.

Health system selection criteria

Key selection factors included disease burden, patient composition (age, race, ethnicity), payer mix, and geographic diversity. Priority was given to health systems serving many socially disadvantaged patients. For patient outreach efforts, the project team provided screening algorithms to the target sites so that they can identify socially disadvantaged patients with undiagnosed CKD for targeted outreach.

Progress is already being made

Collaborative initiatives and scalable solutions, including provider and patient education, real-world data analyses, AI-enabled clinical decision support (CDS) technology and new CKD resources, are enabling Henry Ford to drive changes in clinical practice that aim to lower the cost of care, advance health equity and improve patient outcomes through early CKD diagnosis and evidence-based care.

Henry Ford Health is committed to advancing health equity by addressing social drivers of health and delivering measurable, equitable care,” said Denise White-Perkins, MD, PhD, Chair, Department of Family Medicine and Director, Healthcare Equity Initiatives, Office of System Diversity Equity and Inclusion. “Through real-world, data-driven research and solutions co-designed with health systems and life sciences partners, the CKD Care Collective is enabling Henry Ford Health to enhance clinical outcomes and financial sustainability, and improve the overall health for all of our patient populations.”

Through the Uncover CKD - Care Collective, Henry Ford is making significant strides in improving CKD diagnosis and advancing equitable patient care by:

• Using real world data by leveraging the Premier Healthcare Database, laboratory data and AI-powered technology to rapidly screen diagnosed, undiagnosed and at-risk patients to determine gaps and opportunities in CKD diagnosis and management. Reports include sections detailing clinical CKD patients by sex, age, race, ethnicity, health insurance status and social vulnerability index.
• CDS technology and Real-time alerts in Epic integrated into the provider workflow to enhance CKD screening, diagnosis, and care quality. From January through October 2023, 24% of undiagnosed CKD patients at Henry Ford Health were diagnosed.
• Provider and patient education, including resident education sessions co-designed with Premier and AstraZeneca, CKD resources and toolkits, and updated workflow processes. Resources include a CKD health equity primer – aiming to ensure equitable CKD screening, diagnosis and treatment for historically marginalized and underserved groups.
• Idea exchange and cross-functional best practice sharing with Collective partners, including the development of resources with project findings and outcomes. Henry Ford Innovations hosts Premier’s annual Health Equity Summit, providing health system leaders a collaborative workshop environment that generates multiple health equity research project concepts, including for CKD.