Patient Care
The System Isn’t Working for Americans with Kidney Disease
September 5, 2024
Kidney disease is rapidly becoming a worldwide public health epidemic. Today, nearly 37 million Americans have chronic kidney disease (CKD), yet only about one percent of those Americans are even aware of their disease. We are seeing good advances in the slowing of CKD progression with pharmaceuticals, and there are exciting developments in transplant, such as xenotransplantation, but the dialysis infrastructure in the US is facing serious issues. Historically, the US ensured that access to dialysis is readily available regardless of socioeconomic or geographic access. I worry, however, that as a nation, we are failing to meet this challenge.