August 2019 View as Webpage

Mark is the newly appointed Chair of the Patient Advisory Council (PAC) and is member of the Board of Directors. Mark’s kidney journey began 10 years ago and currently does in-center hemodialysis. His advice for fellow patients is “Never give up! NEVER! NEVER! NEVER!” (Winston Churchill) Mark gets excited about kidney advocacy and helping fellow kidney wariors. A fun fact…Mark was the 2007 World’s People’s Choice Chili Champion!

Living Well with Kidney Disease Educational Patient Event ESRD Network 12 is bringing you, Living Well with Kidney Disease! The afternoon will include information about the Network as well as a patient panel and keynote speaker on dialysis and caregivers.  Date: Sunday, Aug. 25 | Time: 1-4 p.m . Location: Matt Ross Community Center, 8101 Marty St., Overland Park, KS 66204

Event Registration

Download & Share Flier

Network Board Nominations Now Open! Would you like to be a part of the Network by volunteering on the Board of Directors or Medical Review Board of Qsource-ESRD Network 12? Nominations are now open for the following positions .

Board of Directors social worker technician administrator dietitian nurse

Medical Review Board nephrologist (Nebraska) transplant surgeon social worker dietitian

Nomination Form

Nomination Form

Get the Facts: Telehealth Do you live in a rural community where patients drive long distances to get to dialysis or transplant appointments? Do you have patients reluctant to try home dialysis because of the lack of medica... Read more heartlandkidney.org

New Network Vocational Rehabilitation Resources

Vocational Rehabilitation Best Practices Checklist

Medicare, Kidney Transplant, and Work

Disability Work Incentives Guide

Patient Engagement in ACTION! Chris Eichmeier, NPR and PAC member and the team at Mercy Medical Center Dialysis in Clinton, Iowa hosted a lobby day this month to share information on vocational rehabilitation services. They invited two Vocational Rehabilitation representatives (Becky and Paul, shown left) to sit in the patient waiting room during the busiest times to answer any question the patient had. Thanks Chris and Clinton Dialysis team for your work to spread the word about programs available to help people return to or improve their work environment.

Is there a patient engagement activity you would like to share with our Network community? We would love to share your best practices. If you have a picture or project you’d like to share that is not part of a Network QIA report your Patient Engagement Activity  HERE .

Upcoming Events

ESRD NCC QIA LAN Call Series The End Stage Renal Disease National Coordinating Center Quality Improvement Activity Learning and Action Networks (ESRD NCC QIA LANs) hosts a series of calls based on topics of the CMS Quality Improvement Activities (QIAs). These include: Blood Stream Infection (BSI) Home Modality Transplant Depression. ALL ESRD facilities are invited to these meetings because improving the lives of dialysis patients in these areas is a global goal. Please also share these calls with your patients. If you have questions, please call the Network office at 816-880-9990. Upcoming & Previous Calls Sept. NPR Connection Calls Topic:  Prevention Saves Lives Date:   Sept. 12 or Sept. 13 Time:  1 p.m. CST For audio, you will need to also call-in using the following information: Phone:  888-537-7715 Access Code:  885 90 323# Register to Join Online Infection Prevention in the Hemodialysis Setting Date: Tuesday, Sept. 17 Where : Omaha, NE Time:   8:00 AM to 3:45 PM This intense, fast-paced course is designed to provide current knowledge and skills necessary for infection prevention professionals to perform infection prevention activities effectively in the hemodialysis setting. Register Today!  Register Now

Patient Advisory Council Recruitment 2019 Do you know of a patient or family member that would be interested in helping to guide the Network to improve the patient experience in region? As part of the Network's governing body, the Patient ... Read more heartlandkidney.org

Remembering Denny Burgess The Network would like to honor the memory of, Denny Burgess who passed away on July 20. Denny was a passionate advocate for himself and others living with kidney disease. We were fortunate to have known him as a member of the Network Patient Advisory Council since 2016, as a patient subject matter expert for the Patient Engagement Learning and Action Network and as a Network Patient Representative.

Denny brought a positive outlook and genuine desire to help others live well with kidney disease. In addition to his work with the Network, Denny participated in his clinic’s Patient Advisory Council and spoke at the Kidney Options class for new patients. Recently, the staff at University of Iowa- Grinnell nominated him for the Ardyth Boucher Legacy Award and shared the following:  “Denny strives to maintain independence in spite of great adversity. He has faced many obstacles and yet has faced them with courage, hope and determination. He has taught all those around him how valuable having the right attitude is to quantity and quality of life. Denny is a shining beacon of hope and happiness.” Denny made an impact on all those he met and he will be dearly missed.

Patient Experience of Care The Network office receives at least three or four calls a month from facility staff regarding patients who are not coming for treatment or are not staying for their full treatment times. These cha... Read more heartlandkidney.org

Strategies on Adherence "A Happy Patient = A Healthy Patient = Great Outcomes" A Clinic Manager's Philosophy and Strategies on Adherence Each month, ESRD Network 12 receives several calls about patients who are not comin... Read more heartlandkidney.org

Patient Engagement Resource Highlights

Topic of the Month As part of the Network’s efforts to support facility level patient engagement, each month we provide a “Topic of the Month” sheet for the upcoming monthly topic in the 2019 “Be Active in Your Care” Patient Engagement Calendar .

August 2019 My Network: Rights and Responsibilities August Patient Engagement Action: Learn you rights and do your part.   This month, “Be Active in your Care” patient engagement calendar topic is “My Network: Rights and Responsibilities” focusing on helping patients better understand their rights and responsibilities. Use the “My Network: Rights and Responsibilities” Topic of the Month sheet to see some great resources and get ideas to engage your patients in this topic. You can also check out the My Network section of the Patient Engagement Showcase to see bulletin board ideas shared by dialysis facility staff from throughout the Network. You can find all these patient engagement resources HERE .  September 2019 My Plan: Be Prepared September Topic of the Month Patient Engagement Planning: We encourage you to review the resources and activities on the topic “My Plan: Be Prepared” Topic of the Month topic sheet . The sheet has Network and ESRD community resources and activity ideas to help patients be prepared for emergencies in and out of the clinic.  We encourage you to work with your Network Patient Representative (NPR) to discuss what information and activities they think would be most helpful to the patients at your facility.

Download the Flyer

Very Important Patient: Peer To Peer Sharing Call Series Save the Date for our final VIPP call in this year’s series. Please download and share with your patients. Recordings from the other calls in the series are now available on the Network website ! Date: Wednesday, Sept. 25 Time: 1 - 2 pm CT                   Call in number: 888-537-7715 Access Code: 885 90 323#  VIP: Patient Peers talk about Infection Prevention VIP Peer to Peer Sharing Call Series flyer

ESRD Treatment Choices Model HHS To Transform Care Delivery for Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease CMS is proposing the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Treatment Choices (ETC) Model to encourage greater use of home dialysis a... Read more heartlandkidney.org

ESRD PPS Proposed Rule On July 29th the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the public display of the proposed rule for the CY 2020 ESRD PPS, available online at the Federal Register. The CY 2020... Read more heartlandkidney.org

REMEMBER: NHSN Data Deadlines

NHSN is the nation’s most widely used healthcare-associated infection tracking system. NHSN provides facilities, states, regions, and the nation with data needed to identify problem areas, measure the progress of prevention efforts, and ultimately eliminate healthcare-associated infections.

Facilities should: Review the NHSN Dialysis Event Protocol to ensure all data were correctly reported to NHSN. 3 Steps to Review Dialysis Event Surveillance Data Use the How to Create and Read an NHSN Report for CMS ESRD QIP guide to verify your facility has met the minimum CMS reporting requirements. Refer to the How to Create and Read an NHSN Report for Bloodstream Infections guide to review your facility’s bloodstream infection rates. Contact the NHSN Helpdesk ( nhsn@cdc.gov , subject line ‘Dialysis’) with any questions.

This month's KCER Watch Newsletter Safety Alerts

This resource was developed while under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Contract #HHSM-500-2016-00012C. The contents presented do not necessarily reflect CMS policy. 19.Q-ESRD12.08.150