reauthorizing the SDPI at $150 million per year through FY 2021. ▶ NIH has recently funded the Improving Chronic Disease Management with Pieces (ICD-Pieces) study, testing whether computer-generated reminders working in tandem with clinicians can reduce hospitalizations in patients with coexisting CKD, diabetes, and hypertension, and improve use of innovative and proven interventions. Find more information on the ICD-Pieces study at: http://icd-pieces.com/ ▶ ASPR is launching a new initiative called ExaHealth, to develop collaborative tools to accelerate discovery of new therapies. The ExaHealth initiative will be one of many partnerships with the Department of Energy to develop artificial intelligence tools and new methods for studying Page 13 | Advancing American Kidney Health complex biological functions in a concerted way, in order to develop new and more effective medical interventions. These interventions will focus on acute onset of disease during pandemics and man-made disasters, as well as and chronic diseases, whose onset can occur throughout a person’s lifetime, including patients at risk for progression towards CKD and ESRD. Goal 2: Improve Access to and Quality of Person-Centered Treatment Options OBJECTIVE 1. Improve care coordination and patient education for people living with kidney disease and their caregivers, enabling more person-centric transitions to safe and effective treatments for kidney failure HHS supports the data and knowledge infrastructure necessary to inform more person-centric transitions to safe and effective care for kidney failure. ▶ For example, the NIH supports production of the annual U.S. Renal Data System (USRDS) Atlas, which provides up-to-date statistics on incidence, morbidity, and mortality for patients transitioning through kidney failure. These data have been used to inform clinical practice for kidney disease patients and development of targeted interventions for specific populations. In 2018, USRDS published a special transitions section that describes the transition from CKD to ESRD in greater detail using linked data from the Veterans Health system. Key summary findings include the finding that heart failure and acute kidney injury (AKI) are the most common cause of hospitalizations in the six months before the start of hemodialysis, and infectious complications (vascular access infection, septicemia) are the most common causes of hospitalizations after the start of hemodialysis.42 Future efforts of the USRDS include a detailed investigation of causes of early mortality among patients who start hemodialysis, as well as expanded exploration of data sets other than Medicare data to support additional analyses related to kidney disease and kidney care. Find more information on the USRDS at: https://www.usrds.org/ ▶ Through its Making Dialysis Safer for Patients Coalition, CDC coordinates a wide array of organizations and individuals to promote implementation of evidence-based interventions to prevent dialysis bloodstream infections. Best practices and strategies for implementation of these interventions include provider training and feedback, patient engagement and empowerment, and use of audit tools, checklists, and other resources. These interventions have been shown to significantly reduce dialysis-related bloodstream infections (by 30 to 50 percent) and associated outcomes.43 Find more information on the Making Dialysis Safer for Patients Coalition at: https://www.cdc.gov/ dialysis/coalition/index.html ▶ Through the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), CDC tracks bloodstream infections – including those caused by antibiotic resistant organisms, vascular access infections, and other outcomes among hemodialysis patients treated in clinics, and gives clinics immediate access to the data reported. CDC produces standardized infection ratios that are posted publicly on Medicare’s Dialysis Facility Compare website. National aggregate rates of infection are used for benchmarking and in quality improvement initiatives. Find more information on NHSN at: CMS have formed a collaboration to improve access to dialysis care during every disaster and have launched the emPOWER program. emPOWER provides data and mapping tools Page 14 | Advancing American Kidney Health to help communities protect the health of more than 4.1 million Medicare beneficiaries who rely on electricity-dependent medical equipment and healthcare services, including nearly 400,000 dialysis patients. In the wakes of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the emPOWER Program helped ASPR, CMS, and territorial public health officials identify healthcare and resource gaps for dialysis patients and immediately engage with End-Stage Renal Networks44 and dialysis providers to ensure continuity of their life-maintaining healthcare services. Find more information on the emPOWER Program at: Looking forward, HHS will continue to strengthen patient voices in policy development, address the needs of vulnerable populations with portable dialysis technologies, and use payment incentives to support patients making choices about their kidney care modalities. ▶ The Innovation Center has announced four new optional