The BC Glomerulonephritis Network: Improving Access and Reducing the Cost of Immunosuppressive Treatments for Glomerular Diseases

Abstract

Glomerulonephritis (GN) is a common cause of end-stage renal disease in Canada and worldwide, and results in significant health care resource utilization and patient morbidity. However, GN has not been a traditional priority of provincial renal health care organizations, despite the known benefits to health services delivery and patient outcomes from integrated provincial care in other types of chronic kidney disease. To address this deficiency, the British Columbia (BC) Provincial Renal Agency created the BC GN Network in 2013 to coordinate provincial GN health services delivery informed by robust population-level data capture on all GN patients in the province via the BC GN Registry. This report describes the use of the BC GN Network infrastructure to systematically develop and evaluate a provincial GN drug formulary to improve patient and physician access to evidence-based immunosuppressive treatments for GN in a cost-efficient manner that successfully halted historical trends of increasing medication costs. An example is provided of using the provincial infrastructure to implement and subsequently evaluate an evidence-informed health policy of converting brand to generic tacrolimus for the treatment of GN. The BC GN Network, including the provincial drug formulary and data infrastructure, is an example of the benefits of expanding the mandate of provincial renal health administrative organizations to include the care of patients with GN, and constitutes a viable health delivery model that can be implemented in other Canadian provinces to achieve similar goals.