Outcomes Associated with a Disease Management Program for End-Stage Renal Disease

Abstract

Disease-state management is gaining in use for the management of chronically ill individuals including those with diabetes mellitus, congestive heart failure, asthma, and some forms of cancer. Recently, disease management (DM) has been applied to patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), a growing population of patients with high annual costs. CKD is ideally suited to DM since the definition of the condition is unambiguous and current care is highly fragmented. There are currently over 240 000 patients receiving dialysis for end-stage renal disease (ESRD), with projected numbers of nearly 600 000 by 2010, and nearly 9 million individuals with CKD not yet on dialysis. The total cost of care for patients with ESRD alone exceeded $US17 billion in 2000. Over 40% of costs for patients with ESRD result from hospitalizations, many of which can be avoided. In addition, much of the clinical morbidity and cost relates to associated comorbidities rather than ESRD per se, with little management presently provided for these conditions in the dialysis facility setting.