National Kidney Foundation Launches National Community to Advance Race-Agnostic Kidney Function Assessment for Medication-Related Decisions

New Collaboration brings together pharmacists, physicians, laboratory experts, informaticists, EHR leaders, and patients to support implementation of evidence-based kidney function assessment

NEW YORK, July 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) recently announced the launch of the Implementing Medication Decisions with eGFR (IMeD-eGFR) Community, a national collaborative designed to help healthcare organizations transition to a modern, race-agnostic approach for estimating kidney function when making medication-related decisions in adults.

The new community builds upon NKF's leadership in advancing adoption of the 2021 CKD-EPI estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) equation, bringing together experts from pharmacy, nephrology, primary care, laboratory medicine, health informatics, electronic health record (EHR) vendors, patients, and national professional organizations to share best practices, address implementation challenges, and accelerate adoption across the healthcare system.

"The transition to race-agnostic eGFR represents one of the most significant changes to medication-related kidney function assessment in decades," said Andrew Bzowyckyj, PharmD, BCPS, CDCES, Senior Scientific Director and Learning Consultant at the National Kidney Foundation and co-chair of the Workgroup for Implementation of Race-Agnostic eGFR-Based Medication-Related Decisions. "Through the IMeD-eGFR Community, we are creating a national forum where healthcare professionals can learn from one another, share implementation strategies, and work together to improve consistency in medication-related decisions for patients."

The Cockcroft-Gault estimated creatinine clearance equation has guided medication-related decisions since 1976. However, advances in kidney disease research and clinical practice have led experts to recommend the race-agnostic 2021 CKD-EPI eGFR equation, which was developed and validated using substantially larger and more diverse patient populations and reflects current scientific evidence. Transitioning to the new approach requires coordination among pharmacists, prescribing clinicians, laboratories, informatics teams, medication compendia developers, and healthcare organizations.

To support that effort, NKF convened the Workgroup for Implementation of Race-Agnostic eGFR-Based Medication-Related Decisions, a multidisciplinary group of national experts that serves as the scientific and implementation foundation for the new community. Co-chaired by Andrew Bzowyckyj, PharmD, BCPS, CDCES, and Wendy St. Peter, PharmD, FCCP, FASN, FNKF, Professor at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, the workgroup is developing practical implementation strategies that can be adopted across healthcare settings.

"Successfully implementing this transition requires collaboration across the healthcare continuum," said Wendy St. Peter, PharmD. "The IMeD-eGFR Community provides an opportunity for pharmacists, physicians, laboratory professionals, informatics leaders, and others to learn from one another and develop practical solutions that can improve patient care."

Members of the IMeD-eGFR Community will receive implementation resources, participate in educational discussions, learn from early adopters, and contribute to the development of best practices that support widespread adoption of race-agnostic eGFR for medication-related decisions.

"Modernizing how kidney function is estimated for medication-related decisions is an important step toward ensuring patients receive care based on the best available science," said Joseph Vassalotti, MD, Chief Medical Officer at NKF. "By bringing together experts across disciplines, the IMeD-eGFR Community will help translate evidence into everyday clinical practice and support consistent implementation nationwide."

Healthcare professionals interested in joining the IMeD-eGFR Community can learn more and sign up through the National Kidney Foundation here.

About the Initiative

This effort is supported by major U.S. pharmacy organizations, including the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), American Pharmacists Association (APhA), American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), and Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA), in partnership with the National Kidney Foundation. This initiative was supported by a grant from the Doris Duke Foundation.

About Kidney Disease

In the United States, CKD remains an under-recognized public health burden that impacts 1 in 7 adults, and 90 percent of those affected are unaware of their condition. Approximately 1 in 3 U.S. adults are at risk for CKD, but less than 20% are assessed with guideline-recommended testing, eGFR and uACR. Risk factors for kidney disease include diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and family history. People of Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian American, or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander descent are at increased risk for developing the disease. Black or African American people are about four times as likely as White people to develop kidney failure. Hispanic and Native American people experience kidney failure at approximately double the rate of White people.

About the National Kidney Foundation

The National Kidney Foundation is revolutionizing the fight to save lives by eliminating preventable kidney disease, accelerating innovation for the dignity of the patient experience, and dismantling structural inequities in kidney care, dialysis, and transplantation. For more information about NKF, visit www.kidney.org.

SOURCE National Kidney Foundation