COMMITMENT to Our PATIENTS

Our industry is rapidly evolving, and we're focused on transforming the future of healthcare through research, innovation, and compassion. We create comprehensive solutions for people living with chronic kidney disease and related conditions with our focus on the whole patient. Together, we’re working to provide superior care that improves the quality of life of every patient, every day.

15% OF OUR TREATMENTS

are on home dialysis.

8,239 PATIENTS

received a kidney transplant.

57,000

people living with chronic kidney disease or end stage kidney disease informed about home dialysis options.

SUPPORTING PATIENTS

CONTINUED GROWTH IN HOME THERAPIES

We’re empowering patients to choose home therapies by offering support, education, advocacy, nursing, and technology. Choosing home dialysis can mean greater flexibility, fewer food restrictions, and better outcomes. We believe that every patient should be empowered to do their dialysis treatments at home. In 2022, 15 percent of our treatments in the U.S. were on home dialysis.

“It [my home dialysis care team] was like having another family.” Marcus says. “I hope everyone can have the same experience that I did. I had to learn a new way to live, and they made it so easy.”

Marcus Edwards, home dialysis patient with Fresenius Kidney Care

Read Marcus's Story

TOP-RATED DIALYSIS CENTERS

Fresenius Kidney Care facilities have consistently earned strong ratings in clinical quality as measured by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Five-Star Quality Rating System. This system awards one to five stars to dialysis facilities based on a series of measurements around each facility’s clinical performance and patient outcomes. The Five-Star system helps people make more informed decisions when choosing their dialysis facility.

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IMPROVING ACCESS TO TRANSPLANTATION

Transplantation remains a vital therapy option for people living with advanced kidney disease. At Fresenius Medical Care, we are striving to improve access to kidney transplantation for all of our patients. Our work to date includes:  

Developing a comprehensive transplant-focused IT platform to enable electronic delivery and tracking of kidney transplant referrals;
Implementing a new protocol to manage newly transplanted patients with delayed graft function using Fresenius Kidney Care outpatient dialysis facilities to reduce the length of hospital stays and allowing patients to recover at home;
Joining the American Society of Transplantation’s Living Donor Circle of Excellence; 
Exploring novel, evidence-based approaches to increasing rates of living donor kidney transplantation, particularly for Black and Hispanic patients with advanced kidney disease.

In 2022, 8,239 patients received a kidney transplant.

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EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

PATIENT EDUCATION

Helping people live their best life with kidney disease means providing them with resources and support. Our Kidney Care Advocates offer free education to patients, care partners, and family members. Classes can be taken with an educator (in person or virtually) or self-paced online. In addition to education, The Kidney Care Advocates provide support to patients in navigating their care. This is done by connecting patients with additional resources such as insurance coordinators to help patients better understand the financial impact and available resources. We also refer prospective patients to a Patient Consultant or Patient Advocate who can help answer questions and share their experience on what to expect with home dialysis. The class covers: 

Symptoms and stages of chronic kidney disease 
Eating well with kidney disease 
Coping and getting support 
Treatment options — including home dialysis 
Additional resources

In 2022, The Kidney Care Advocates conducted more than 57,000 education sessions both in person and virtually.¹

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1. Online education sessions offered through https://www.freseniuskidneycare.com/kidney-disease/kidney-disease-education-class are not included in these numbers.

PERITONEAL DIALYSIS PATIENT EDUCATION EXPERIENCE

Our Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) Patient Education Experience includes a comprehensive home therapy training program administered through a mobile app platform. Through this new program, patients receive thorough and consistent training customized to their individual needs, improving their confidence and ability to perform PD at home. Our goal is to have 90 percent of PD patients using the PD Patient Education Experience by 2025.

In 2022, the PD Patient Education Experience platform won two Brandon Hall Group Bronze Awards for Excellence in Technology for Best Advance in Content Management Technology and Best Advance in Mobile Learning Technology.

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TREATMENT OPTIONS AND HOME DIALYSIS

People exploring their dialysis treatment options should be informed about every treatment option available to them. Many people are excellent candidates for treatments such as peritoneal dialysis (PD) or home hemodialysis (home HD), both of which are administered in the home and offer a range of health and lifestyle benefits. Fresenius Kidney Care offers education, training, programs, and support to help home dialysis patients be successful. Our Patient Consultants (employees) and Patient Advocates (patients and family members) educate and support patients and families throughout their journey. In 2022, Patient Consultants connected with more than 10,000 prospective patients and family members via email and phone — resulting in 660 patients choosing home hemodialysis — while Patient Advocates participated in 2,796 virtual events.

EVERY DAY PATIENT SUPPORT

HEALTH EQUITY FOR IMPROVED ACCESS TO CARE

At Fresenius Medical Care, we are a diverse team of more than 120,000 individuals who share one guiding principle: patients are our purpose. We believe that every patient, regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, age, ability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, or socioeconomic status, should have an equitable opportunity and support to maximize their health.

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CARING FOR THE WHOLE PATIENT

Fresenius Kidney Care addresses the unique needs of every patient — offering education, nutritional resources, mental health support, financial guidance, and more — as we provide care to those living with kidney disease. We believe emotional well-being is just as important as physical well-being, and we customize care for each patient to help them stay true to their passions and goals — and help them thrive.

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TRANSITIONAL CARE UNITS

Fresenius Kidney Care operates more than 100 Transitional Care Units (TCUs) across the organization, which help people recently diagnosed with kidney disease learn about their treatment options (including home dialysis) and become more empowered to manage their own care. TCUs are separate spaces within our dialysis centers that have specialized care teams dedicated to onboarding patients new to dialysis. This setting provides people living with kidney failure both the education and time to choose the therapy best suited for them. Patients in a TCU choose home at almost twice the rate of our total patient population. Listen to our Field Notes podcast episode How Transitional Care Units Empower Patients to Manage Their Care. 

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REDUCING HOSPITALIZATIONS

Unnecessary hospitalizations are one of the biggest drivers of higher cost to the healthcare system. One of the ways we make an impact on reducing hospitalizations is by developing innovative predictive models that can analyze hundreds of data points. These models help us with early identification of those individuals most at risk from fluid overload, infection, and other factors often hidden without these advanced tools. This data, combined with the hands-on care and support of a comprehensive care team, has the ability to identify concerns early, before they result in hospitalization.

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PROMOTING PATIENT-CENTERED CARE THROUGH HEALTH INFORMATION EXCHANGE

Fresenius Kidney Care joined CommonWell Health Alliance data exchange services through a partnership with Oracle Cerner. CommonWell Health Alliance's bridge to the national Carequality interoperability framework allows shareable information to be exchanged with member hospitals and physicians and fosters care coordination and collaboration. Fresenius Kidney Care dialysis centers exchange more than three million clinical documents each month with more than three thousand participating providers through health information exchanges to facilitate transitions of care.

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INFECTION PREVENTION

Infection is one of the leading causes of death among patients with ESKD, which is why infection prevention is a significant focus during patient training. We guide patients toward consistent infection control practices and review infection control techniques during monthly visits. To help further combat infection, we leverage our Infection Surveillance Platform (ISP). The ISP combines data from multiple systems in one convenient location, collects more comprehensive data of active infection events, and provides the information needed to make clinical decisions that effectively manage infection.

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LISTENING TO PATIENT NEEDS

PATIENT EXPERIENCE TEAM

Our Patient Experience Team helps us gather insights and drive action based on feedback from those who rely on us most. We developed our new Voice of the Customer platform for a more systematic approach to listening and identifying opportunities for improvement. Recently, we’ve integrated the patient experience into performance management, employee training, and company-wide communications and meetings.

In 2022, our patients provided feedback through our In-Center Patient Experience Survey an d our Home Therapy Patient Relationship Survey:

In-Center Patient Experience Survey feedback:

97% of our patient respondents felt they were treated with respect by their care team
96% felt safe receiving treatment at the facility
94% felt that the care team paid attention to their individual needs

Home Therapy Patient Relationship Survey feedback:

96% indicated a strong likelihood to continue home therapy for their dialysis needs
93% "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the physician experience 
93% of home patient respondents felt they were treated with respect by their care team

KIDNEY CARE COMMUNITY

Our Kidney Care Community is an online forum that provides information and inspiration for anyone impacted by chronic kidney disease. Users can ask questions, tell stories, give and receive support, and make connections. By the end of 2022, we had 6,014 community members.

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IMPROVING TIME ON THERAPY

Home hemodialysis gives patients the opportunity for greater independence and control over their time and health outcomes. We continue to support patients and care teams with the education and resources they need to improve the opportunity for transplantation. This includes a comprehensive curriculum engaging all members of the care team to understand the patient’s goals and responsibilities in supporting kidney transplant as a treatment option.

POWERFUL SOLUTIONS FOR COMPASSIONATE CARE

In an effort to provide high-quality, personalized care, in 2022 we: 

Educated more than 57,000 people living with chronic kidney disease or end stage kidney disease about home dialysis with the help of 190 Kidney Care Advocates;
Provided more than 74,000 online courses and webinars through our Advanced Renal Education Program (AREP);
Performed 183,518 combined outpatient procedures at Azura Vascular Care and National Cardiovascular Partners locations and had 20 Joint Commission surveys and 3 state inspections.

BUILDING THE LARGEST RENAL-FOCUSED GENOMIC REGISTRY

Nephrology has been underrepresented in clinical research, even as rapid progress in gene sequencing and analysis has led to advances in precision medicine and individualized care in oncology, cardiology, and other medical areas. Fresenius Medical Care’s new global genomic registry contains genetic sequencing data from chronic kidney disease patients worldwide, which will be used by researchers to improve the understanding of kidney disease. Fresenius Medical Care’s Global Medical Office developed the registry after researchers identified the lack of a large-scale, renal-focused registry of genomic and clinical data as a major impediment to kidney disease research. In 2022, the company launched the My Reason^® campaign to promote patient enrollment with the ambitious goal of enrolling more than 100,000 participants within five years.

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All sustainability data is from Fresenius Medical Care North America for 2022 unless otherwise noted.