A Job Retention Program for People with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)
By the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) and the Medical Education Institute (MEI). Founded in 1969, AAKP is the nation’s largest and oldest independent kidney patient advocacy organization and is governed by a patient-majority Board of Directors. Founded in 1993, The Medical Education Institute is a non-profit organization comprised of a team of experienced researchers, writers, editors, designers, social workers, and patient education experts with decades of experience in healthcare communications and whose mission is to help people with chronic diseases learn to manage and improve their health.
In The News
About KidneyWorks
The non-profits American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) and Medical Education Institute (MEI) have partnered to develop KidneyWorks™. This patient advocacy program is designed to identify working-age people with Stage 3-5 CKD—those whose kidney function is less than 60%—and to promote job retention for continued health insurance, income, and enhanced quality of life.
Recently, AAKP and MEI formally released our research study, A Job Retention Program for People with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), which reflects the expert perspectives of a multi-stakeholder experts drawn from across the care and patient spectrum:
Stakeholders
Patient and Professional Organizations: American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP); American Health Quality Association (AHQA); American Society of Nephrology (ASN); Kidney Health Initiative (KHI) – (a collaborative of U.S. Food and Drug Administration and ASN); Medical Education Institute (MEI); National Renal Administrators Association (NRAA); Renal Physicians Association (RPA)
Federal Government: Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), U.S. Department of Labor; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Assistance (CMS), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; National Kidney Disease Education Program (NKDEP), National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Private Sector: Baxter International; CiCoach; DaVita, Inc.; Dialysis Clinic, Inc.; Fresenius Kidney Care; Northwest Kidney Centers; Renalogic
Chronic Kidney Disease and Employment
The two leading causes of chronic kidney disease are type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. While CKD and kidney failure can be devastating for anyone, the impact on American minority adults, who are at disproportionately higher risk for CKD and kidney failure than whites compared to their prevalence in the population, is even more alarming.