Partnership to Improve Population Health, Chronic Disease Management 

To improve population health and chronic disease management, the American Diabetes Association and Renalytix have announced a joint program to enhance the overall kidney health of patients with type 2 diabetes in the United States.  

Approximately 34.2 million Americans and an estimated 422 million people worldwide have diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is the most common type, making up 90 to 95 percent of all diabetes cases in adults. 

Additionally, medical professionals now recognize kidney disease as a public health epidemic, impacting over 850 million individuals globally. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 15 percent of US adults, or 37 million people, currently have chronic kidney disease. Further, 9 out of 10 adults with chronic kidney disease do not know they have it and 1 out of 2 people with very low kidney function who are not on dialysis do not know they have it. 

The program will work to enhance early detection and risk-informed care delivery to delay disease progression, reduce dialysis starts, and improve the health of chronic kidney disease patients with diabetes.   

“Early identification and risk-informed care are critical to better health outcomes,” Vice President of Healthcare Improvement at the American Diabetes Association, Nuha El Sayed, MD, MMSc, said in a press release. “Our work together will support the care of people with diabetes through primary care providers.” 

Working collaboratively, ADA and Renalytix will gather experts to advise and develop a comprehensive interprofessional risk-informed diabetes kidney care pathway and model for optimal clinical treatment and risk reduction.  

According to the press release, the organizations will work together to define a plan for the second phase of the program to scale and deploy the model through partnerships with multiple health systems.  

The effort will leverage milestones, KPIs, data metrics, and an ongoing evaluation of the Pathway’s effectiveness in changing patient outcomes for those with diabetes living with or at risk of chronic kidney disease. 

“This program combines technology, hospital system population health engagement, and leading clinical experts to drive optimized care management at the earliest possible stage of kidney disease where better outcomes and cost control can be maximized,” said James McCullough, CEO of Renalytix.  

“For individuals with diabetes and kidney disease, this is a powerful, comprehensive and bold model to engage this devastating disease beginning in primary care and close the gaps in front-line care.” 

Predictive analytics indicates that the number of adults diagnosed with diabetes will reach 60 million by 2060 in the US alone. Additionally, up to 40 percent are expected to develop chronic kidney disease.