Reviewing Race and Kidney Disease in the NKF-ASN Task Force Report

Managed Care Cast

Black Americans are 4 times more likely to develop kidney failure and are diagnosed with chronic kidney disease later and in later stages than White Americans. They are less likely to be deemed eligible for a transplant, instead going on dialysis. Last week a joint report from the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) and the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) recommended the removal of a racially based modifier used in calculating the estimated glomerular filtration rate, which has the effect of making Black patients seem healthier than they really are, leading to care delays. On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Susan Quaggin, MD, FASN, a nephrologist and the chief of nephrology/hypertension and director of the Feinberg Cardiovascular and Renal Research Institute at Northwestern University, as well as current president of the ASN. She discusses the recommendations of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and ASN Task Force on Reassessing the Inclusion of Race in Diagnosing Kidney Diseases and what comes next for laboratories, clinicians, and patients.