Our Patients

Our industry is rapidly evolving, and we're focused on transforming the future of healthcare through research, innovation, and compassion. We create comprehensive solutions for people living with chronic kidney disease and related conditions with our focus on the whole patient. Together, we’re working to provide superior care that improves the quality of life of every patient, every day.

In 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic continued to take its toll on healthcare systems around the world. People with advanced kidney disease are recognized as one of the most vulnerable patient populations. We continued to provide support for patients during COVID-19, highlights include:

• We administered more than 270,000 COVID-19 vaccines and boosters to the dialysis community.
• We set up isolation centers for infected patients and treated more than 17,500 patients with COVID-19 in North America.
• We conducted more than 413,000 remote visits between patients, care teams, and physicians.
• We expanded telehealth and other technologies to support patients, including:
  • Improved patient-facing technology to allow patients to order their supplies for home treatments directly through our patient portal—PatientHub;
  • Easy and secure communications between patients and care team members via PatientHub with patients sending 1,000 messages per month to our care teams;
  • Expanded educational offerings for patients to learn more about kidney care and kidney disease.
• We continued to make enhancements to ProviderHub, part of our connected health platform, allowing physicians to better monitor home dialysis patients.

With a history of successful seasonal vaccination of patients, we saw the opportunity to leverage our infrastructure and access to patients as a way to support the nationwide COVID-19 vaccine effort. Starting in late 2020, we advocated for a direct federal allocation of the vaccine. As part of our agreement reached with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in addition to vaccination of our own, we supported smaller dialysis companies across the country. A recent study affirms the federal partnership was successful in reducing racial disparities in vaccination coverage. Compared to White patients, Hispanic, Black, and Asian patients were more likely to receive at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine in a dialysis center.

Even before the federal allocation, we worked with local and state health officials to deliver vaccines as quickly as possible to our high-risk patient population. In 2021, we administered more than 270,000 COVID-19 vaccines and boosters to the dialysis community.

We’re empowering patients to choose home therapies by offering support, education, advocacy, nursing, and technology. Choosing home dialysis can mean greater flexibility, fewer food restrictions, and better outcomes. We believe that every patient should be empowered to do their dialysis treatments at home. The 2021 results are in: 

• A 6.4% increase in home dialysis treatments (home hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis combined), amounting to 16% of our treatments on home dialysis 
• A 14% increase in home hemodialysis treatments 

Fresenius Kidney Care facilities have consistently earned strong ratings in clinical quality as measured by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Five-Star Quality Rating System. This system awards one to five stars to dialysis facilities based on a series of measurements around each facility’s clinical performance and patient outcomes. The Five-Star system helps people make more informed decisions when choosing their dialysis facility.

Transplantation remains a vital therapy option for people living with advanced kidney disease. At Fresenius Medical Care, we are striving to improve access to kidney transplantation for all of our patients. Our work to date includes:  

• Developing a comprehensive transplant-focused IT platform to enable electronic delivery and tracking of kidney transplant referrals;
• Implementing a new protocol to manage newly transplanted patients with delayed graft function using Fresenius Kidney Care outpatient dialysis facilities to reduce the length of hospital stays and allowing patients to recover at home;
• Joining the American Society of Transplantation’s Living Donor Circle of Excellence;   
• Exploring novel, evidence-based approaches to increasing rates of living donor kidney transplantation, particularly for Black and Hispanic patients with advanced kidney disease. 

In 2021, 7,879 patients received a kidney transplant.

Helping people live their best life with kidney disease means providing them with resources and support at every stage of their journey. Our Kidney Care Advocates offer free education to patients, care partners, and family members. Classes can be taken with an educator (in person or virtually) or self-paced online. In addition to education, the Kidney Care Advocates provide support to patients in navigating their care. This is done by connecting patients with additional resources such as insurance coordinators to help patients better understand the financial impact and available resources. We also refer prospective patients to a Patient Consultant or Patient Advocate who can help answer questions and share their experience on what to expect with home dialysis. The class covers: 

• Symptoms and stages of chronic kidney disease 
• Eating well with kidney disease 
• Coping and getting support 
• Treatment options — including home dialysis 
• Additional resources 

In 2021, the Kidney Care Advocates conducted more than 57,000 education sessions both in person and virtually.1 We plan to educate more than 200,000 patients and their care partners between 2021 and 2025. 

1. Online education sessions offered through https://www.freseniuskidneycare.com/kidney-disease/kidney-disease-education-class are not included in these numbers.

Our Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) Patient Education Experience includes a comprehensive home therapy training program administered through a mobile app platform. Through this new program, patients receive thorough and consistent training customized to their individual needs, improving their confidence and ability to perform PD at home. Our goal is to have 90 percent of PD patients using the PD Patient Education Experience by 2025. 

In 2022, the PD Patient Education Experience platform won two Brandon Hall Group Bronze Awards for Excellence in Technology for Best Advance in Content Management Technology and Best Advance in Mobile Learning Technology.

People exploring their dialysis treatment options should be informed about every treatment option available to them. Many people are excellent candidates for treatments such as peritoneal dialysis (PD) or home hemodialysis (HHD), both of which are administered in the home and offer a range of health and lifestyle benefits. Fresenius Kidney Care offers education, training, programs, and support to help home dialysis patients be successful. Our Patient Consultants (employees) and Patient Advocates (patients and family members) educate and support patients and families throughout their journey. In 2021, Patient Consultants connected with more than 10,000 prospective patients and family members via email and phone – resulting in 660 patients choosing home hemodialysis – while Patient Advocates participated in 2,154 virtual events

We created a full suite of insurance education materials to support people in understanding their options. With Medicare Advantage being a newer option for those with end stage renal disease (ESRD), we are providing up-to-date resources to ensure people find the best insurance options for them.

At Fresenius Medical Care, we are a diverse team of more than 120,000 individuals who share one guiding principle: patients are our purpose. We believe that every patient, regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, age, ability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, or socioeconomic status, should have an equitable opportunity and support to maximize their health.

Fresenius Kidney Care addresses the unique needs of every patient — offering education, nutritional resources, mental health support, financial guidance, and more, as we provide care to those living with kidney disease. We believe emotional well-being is just as important as physical well-being, and we customize care for each patient to help them stay true to their passions and goals – and help them thrive.

Fresenius Kidney Care operates more than 100 Transitional Care Units (TCUs) across the organization, which help people recently diagnosed with kidney disease learn about their treatment options (including home dialysis) and become more empowered to manage their own care. TCUs are separate spaces within our dialysis centers that have specialized care teams dedicated to onboarding patients new to dialysis. This setting provides people living with kidney failure both the education and time to choose the therapy best suited for them. Patients in a TCU choose home at almost twice the rate of our total patient population. Listen to our Field Notes podcast episode How Transitional Care Units Empower Patients to Manage Their Care. 

Unnecessary hospitalizations are one of the biggest drivers of higher cost to the healthcare system. One of the ways we make an impact on reducing hospitalizations is by developing innovative predictive models that can analyze hundreds of data points. These models help us with early identification of those individuals most at risk from fluid overload, infection, and other factors often hidden without these advanced tools. This data, combined with the hands-on care and support of a comprehensive care team, has the ability to identify concerns early, before they result in a hospitalization.

Fresenius Kidney Care joined CommonWell Health Alliance data exchange services through a partnership with Cerner. CommonWell Health Alliance's bridge to the national Carequality interoperability framework allows shareable information to be exchanged with member hospitals and physicians and fosters care coordination and collaboration. Fresenius Kidney Care dialysis centers exchange more than one million clinical documents each month with more than three thousand participating providers through health information exchanges to facilitate transitions of care.

Our value based care programs allow for partnerships with public and private payors to reduce the overall cost of care while helping people living with kidney disease reach their health goals. We support the entire spectrum of renal care, from chronic kidney disease (CKD) to end stage renal disease (ESRD), including kidney transplantation, supportive care, and all modalities of dialysis. With unparalleled industry expertise, we leverage artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, technological capabilities, and platforms to support early interventions.

Improving antibiotic prescribing and use is critical to effectively treat infections, protect patients from harm caused by unnecessary antibiotic use, and combat antibiotic resistance. Our Antibiotic Stewardship Program includes a care pathway for catheter-related bloodstream infection, using technology to assist in monitoring appropriate treatment of infections. 

Reporting bloodstream infections is a national quality measure for outpatient dialysis facilities. One of the ways Fresenius Kidney Care is improving antibiotic use is by providing peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients antibiotics to have at home, so they can treat infections earlier. To decrease time to peritonitis treatment, clinicians can prescribe broad-spectrum intraperitoneal and oral antibiotic kits per an algorithm. The algorithm also allows for narrowing of the PD antibiotics once the organism is known. Kits are self-administered by patients in the home with the assistance of nursing staff utilizing technology platforms such as telehealth. Timely self-treatment with antibiotics at home decreases barriers to effective care.

Infection is one of the leading causes of death among patients with ESRD, which is why infection prevention is a significant focus during patient training. We guide patients toward consistent infection control practices and review infection control techniques during monthly visits. To help further combat infection, we leverage our Infection Surveillance Platform (ISP). The ISP combines data from multiple systems in one convenient location, collects more comprehensive data of active infection events, and provides the information needed to make clinical decisions that effectively manage infection.

Our Patient Experience Team helps us gather insights and drive action based on feedback from those who rely on us most. We developed our new Voice of the Customer platform for a more systematic approach to listening and identifying opportunities for improvement. Recently, we’ve integrated the patient experience into performance management, employee training, and company-wide communications and meetings. 

In 2021, our patients provided feedback through our Home Therapy Patient Relationship Survey: 

• 96% indicated a strong likelihood to continue home therapy for their dialysis needs;  
• 94% "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the physician experience;  
• 93% of home patient respondents reported strong satisfaction with our Nx2Me Connected Health® platform and 89% with our PatientHub platform.

Our Kidney Care Community is an online forum that provides information and inspiration for anyone impacted by chronic kidney disease. Users can ask questions, tell stories, give and receive support, and make connections. By the end of 2021, we had 4,123 community members.

Home hemodialysis gives patients the opportunity for greater independence and control over their time and health outcomes. We continue to support patients and care teams with the education and resources they need to improve the opportunity for transplantation. This includes a comprehensive curriculum engaging all members of the care team to understand the patient’s goals and responsibilities in supporting kidney transplant as a treatment option.

In an effort to provide high-quality, personalized care, in 2021 we: 

• Educated more than 56,000 people living with chronic kidney disease or end stage renal disease about home dialysis with the help of 180 Kidney Care Advocates;
• Provided more than 68,000 online courses and webinars through our Advanced Renal Education Program (AREP);
• Performed 182,113 combined outpatient procedures at Azura Vascular Care and National Cardiovascular Partners locations and had 25 Joint Commission surveys and 8 state inspections; 
• Focused on early intervention and management of kidney disease patients at Fresenius Physician Solutions; more than 72 percent of our Comprehensive Kidney Care Contracting practices achieved optimal start performance with patient-initiated dialysis either through a home modality or through the use of a permanent fistula.

Acumen Physician Solutions extends Acumen® Epic® Connect – Epic’s EHR and Revenue Cycle System coupled with Acumen’s Nephrology expertise - to physician practices around the United States. Acumen Epic Connect improves care coordination and the quality of patient care with its: 

• CKD & ESRD care management tools 
• MyChart patient portal
• Extensive interoperability and data sharing with hospitals, lab companies, and other healthcare providers
• Advanced analytics and Population Health features.

Acumen Epic Connect helps to identify patients with CKD early, slow CKD progression, ensure timely referral to transplant, and achieve optimal start on dialysis in the setting of the patient’s choice – at home or in-center. 

Nephrology has been underrepresented in clinical research, even as rapid progress in gene sequencing and analysis has led to advances in precision medicine and individualized care in oncology, cardiology, and other medical areas. Fresenius Medical Care’s new global genomic registry contains genetic sequencing data from chronic kidney disease patients worldwide, which will be used by researchers to improve the understanding of kidney disease. Fresenius Medical Care’s Global Medical Office developed the registry after researchers identified the lack of a large-scale, renal-focused registry of genomic and clinical data as a major impediment to kidney disease research. In 2022, the company launched the My Reason® campaign to promote patient enrollment with the ambitious goal of enrolling more than one hundred thousand participants within five years. 

One of the most reported barriers to treatment for our patients is inadequate and/or unreliable transportation. Through a joint-venture partnership announced in 2019 with Ambulnz, a North American transportation services company/provider, Fresenius Medical Care aims to improve access to affordable transportation for dialysis patients with an innovative solution for non-emergency medical transportation patients. Ambulnz provides rides to and from treatments, and for non-life-threatening medical emergencies, improving the patient experience. Ambulnz services have been introduced in New York, Texas, Tennessee, Illinois, and Wisconsin, with expansion to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland planned in 2022. 

All sustainability data is from Fresenius Medical Care North America for 2021 unless otherwise noted.

Acumen and any other of our trademarks on this page are trademarks of Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc. or its affiliated companies.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.