New Research Study Shows Significant Health Improvements for Nursing Home Dialysis Patients

ATLANTA, Feb. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- On Monday, February 10, 2014, Affiliated Dialysis Centers, LLC ("ADC") shared its first release of clinical data at the 2014 34^th Annual Dialysis Conference in Atlanta, GA.  Since 2013, ADC has engaged Xelay Acumen, a strategy and medical data analytics firm, to independently lead its data collection and analysis effort.  Dr. Alex Yang MD presented the initial results from this health outcomes clinical research study involving ESRD patients who received their dialysis care on-site at the nursing home.  The study utilized the largest known database of ESRD patients receiving dialysis in the nursing home setting and consisted of nearly 4,000 patients over a 6-year period.

The ESRD patient population on dialysis already has one of the highest mortality rates, surpassing many cancers.  Within the ESRD patient population, nursing home patients have additional health challenges by virtue of their need to be in a nursing home.  Transporting these very frail patients from a skilled nursing facility to a dialysis facility, sometimes a great distance in inclement weather, is not only cumbersome, but also potentially detrimental to their health status.

Key results from this epidemiological research study demonstrated:

1. Poor initial health status in ESRD patients on dialysis in the nursing home setting, confirming the high-acuity of this vulnerable patient population relative to the general ESRD population

2. Improvements in health status during the incident 4-12 months as shown by the improvement in mortality rate, albumin, and hemoglobin, indicating a high level of quality care being delivered:

• Mean Mortality improved from an annualized rate of ~70% to 30%
• Mean Albumin improved from 3.2 to 3.6 g/dL
• Mean Hemoglobin improved from 10.15 to 10.8 g/dL

3. Patient outcomes improved year over year and in the incident 3 months on dialysis, consistent with the trend and quality of care provided to the rest of the U.S. dialysis population

Further analyses will be conducted to investigate whether different baseline characteristics or changes in clinical practice, such as daily home hemodialysis therapy, correlate with improving mortality rate and health status.

"Large nationwide databases such as USRDS that report on Medicare patients do not code for location of dialysis, and therefore the scientific and dialysis community have never had access to such a large and complete database on ESRD patients on dialysis in the nursing home setting," said Dr. Alex Yang MD.  "These initial research results are provocative in that they shed a new light on the high quality of care being provided in the nursing home setting and potentially point to differences in health outcomes such as mortality based on the location of dialysis delivery."

Mr. Steven Bucher, Chief Executive Officer of ADC, stated "We have made continuous clinical improvement in our ten year focus of serving this most vulnerable patient population.  We are pleased to be an industry leader in this niche delivering high quality care that has made a significant and positive impact on the health status of our patients.  We look forward to sharing more analysis of this database, including an exploration of daily home hemodialysis versus conventional thrice-weekly hemodialysis in this population."

Affiliated Dialysis Centers, an independent dialysis provider based in Illinois, is the largest provider of home dialysis in Illinois and a national leader in providing home hemodialysis services to End Stage Renal Disease patients residing in skilled nursing facilities. 

For further information, visit the company at www.affiliateddialysis.com, or contact Curt Anliker, Chief Operating Officer, at (630) 942-1111.

SOURCE Affiliated Dialysis Centers, LLC