WASHINGTON – Kidney Care Partners (KCP) – the nation’s leading kidney care multi-stakeholder coalition representing patient advocates, physician organizations, health professional groups, dialysis providers, researchers and manufacturers – today announced the hiring of Michele Kimball to serve as the coalition’s new Executive Director. Kimball brings over 30 years of policy and patient advocacy experience to the position

“As a long-time and passionate advocate for patient care, I’m excited and honored to meet the challenge of leading Kidney Care Partners, a group that truly reflects every aspect of kidney care,” shared Kimball. “There are 37 million people in this country who need and deserve affordable, equitable access to quality kidney care, and KCP is the coalition that can drive these changes that patients need and want.

“We’re thrilled to have Michele join the team and bring her unique vision and experience to support KCP’s vision of improving quality of care, choice and access for individuals living with kidney diseases,” said John P. Butler, Chair of KCP. “Her commitment to patients, care access and equity make her a great fit to lead KCP and help shape and improve the future of kidney care.”

Prior to joining KCP, Kimball served in a number of leadership roles working to bring change in the healthcare system to benefit patients and support their professional and informal caregivers. Previously, she served more than 20 years as both a health policy advocate for AARP in Washington, DC, as well as the Director of AARP’s Minnesota State Office. Most recently, she was the President and CEO of Physicians for Fair Coverage, a national, multi-specialty, non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization that successfully and collaboratively worked to end surprise medical billing at both the state and federal levels, and was the Principal and Founder of AdvocateUS, working with numerous national organizations to support efforts to enhance patient access to affordable care.

“There is much to do — from much needed payment reform to creating greater equity and affordability in accessing care, to improving choice in where this care is received, to enhancing research and supporting innovation in kidney care, manufacturing and therapeutics. I intend to ensure that KCP continues to put those living with kidney disease at the center of all we do,” Kimball concluded.

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