This popular website is a one-stop clearinghouse with information and resources about all forms of home dialysis, including PD and three different types of home hemodialysis. Launched in 2004 with sponsorship from a consortium of manufacturers, providers, and home dialysis advocates, the site is now #1 on Google, MSN and Yahoo! for home dialysis. Site visitors can find information, join message boards for patients or professionals, find a home dialysis clinic in their area, attend webinars moderated by dialysis experts, and more.
KDQOL COMPLETE is a web-based service that helps renal professionals score, report, and manage KDQOL-36™ survey answers—and assess patients’ health-related quality of life as required by CMS under the Conditions for Coverage. This secure data management service is the only system of its kind that makes it easy and practical to incorporate health-related quality of life measurements into patient care plans and health records.
Subscribers can use KDQOL COMPLETE to print KDQOL-36 survey forms, get scores for 5 different domains, print individual or clinic-wide reports, track KDQOL scores over time, and store data for future reports (including CMS requirements under development).
Kidney School is a free, online kidney learning center with 16 interactive modules. First launched in 2002, Kidney School has grown to become the largest stage 3-5 CKD education program in the world, with 225,000 visitors, plus more than 170,000 downloads of PDF modules and 100,000 free postcard handouts—a total of nearly 500,000 contacts in one year!
Kidney School has earned numerous awards, including the Golden Nephron Award for advancements in the field of nephrology through the internet and HON (healthcare on the net) accreditation.
Kidney School is supported by an exclusive, unrestricted educational grant from Fresenius Medical Care North America.
Life Options is a multi-faceted program, founded in 1993, to help people live long and live well with kidney disease. Program elements include research, evidence-based education for patients and professionals (including Kidney School™, the award-winning online learning center), outreach and advocacy.
On the Life Options website, visitors can find a wealth of free educational materials. Individualized advice and support are available via a toll-free resource center phone number. The Life Options team also works hard to influence policy and clinical practice on behalf of people with CKD.
Life Options is unlike any other program in the kidney community. A powerful combination of vision and pragmatism, it is the only long-term, evidence-based initiative dedicated to improving outcomes by empowering patients to take an active role in self-managing their own health.