Barriers to home dialysis: Unraveling the tapestry of policy

Centre variation in home dialysis uptake: A survey of kidney centre practice in relation to home dialysis organisation and delivery in England

BACKGROUND

Disparities in home dialysis uptake across England suggest inequity and unexplained variation in access. We surveyed staff at all English kidney centres to identify patterns in service organisation/delivery and explore correlations with home therapy uptake, as part of a larger study ('Inter-CEPt'), which aims to identify potentially modifiable factors to address observed variations.

METHODS

Between June and September 2022, staff working at English kidney centres were surveyed and individual responses combined into one centre-level response per question using predetermined data aggregation rules. Descriptive analysis described centre practices and their correlation with home dialysis uptake (proportion of new home dialysis starters) using 2019 UK Renal Registry 12-month home dialysis incidence data.

RESULTS

In total, 180 responses were received (50/51 centres, 98.0%). Despite varied organisation of home dialysis services, most components of service delivery and practice had minimal or weak correlations with home dialysis uptake apart from offering assisted peritoneal dialysis and 'promoting flexible decision-making about dialysis modality'. Moderate to strong correlations were identified between home dialysis uptake and centres reporting supportive clinical leadership (correlation 0.32, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.05-0.55), an organisational culture that values trying new initiatives (0.57, 95% CI: 0.34-0.73); support for reflective practice (0.38, 95% CI: 0.11-0.60), facilitating research engagement (0.39, 95% CI: 0.13-0.61) and promoting continuous quality improvement (0.29, 95% CI: 0.01-0.53).

CONCLUSIONS

Uptake of home dialysis is likely to be driven by organisational culture, leadership and staff attitudes, which provide a supportive clinical environment within which specific components of service organisation and delivery can be effective.

Evaluation and Measurement Properties of a Patient-Reported Experience Measure for Home Dialysis

BACKGROUND

No previously validated patient-reported experience measures exist for use among patients undergoing home dialysis. We tested the Home Dialysis Care Experience survey, a newly developed 26-item experience measure, among patients from 30 dialysis facilities in the United States.

METHODS

Using mail and telephone survey modalities, we approached 1372 patients treated with peritoneal dialysis or home hemodialysis for participation. Using the results from completed surveys, we evaluated item calibration by assessing item floor and ceiling effects. We tested three sets of composite scores and used factor analysis to assess model fit for each. We evaluated associations of composite scores with global ratings and separately with patient and dialysis facility characteristics. Finally, we measured test-retest reliability in patients who completed the survey at two separate time points.

RESULTS

Overall, 495 eligible patients completed at least one survey (response rate 36%). Of these, 49 completed the survey in Spanish and 61 completed a second survey within 30 days. We did not detect significant floor or ceiling effects, except for one item that demonstrated >90% responses at the top response option. Analyses supported one 12-item composite scale with high internal consistency reliability: Quality of Home Dialysis Care and Operations (Cronbach alpha=0.85). This scale strongly correlated with overall staff rating ( r =0.73) and overall center rating ( r =0.70). Patient demographic and dialysis facility characteristics were not consistently associated with composite scale scores or overall staff or center ratings. Intraclass correlation coefficients in the test-retest population were 0.74 for the Quality scale, 0.88 for overall staff rating, and 0.90 for overall center rating.

CONCLUSIONS

The Home Dialysis Care Experience survey is a 26-item measure that includes one composite scale and two global rating scores and is an informative tool to evaluate patient experience of care for home dialysis.

Expanding Utilization of Home Dialysis: An Action Agenda From the First International Home Dialysis Roundtable

In a groundbreaking meeting, leading global kidney disease organizations came together in the fall of 2020 as an International Home Dialysis Roundtable (IHDR) to address strategies to increase access to and uptake of home dialysis, both peritoneal dialysis and home hemodialysis. This challenge has become urgent in the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, during which patients with advanced kidney disease, who are more susceptible to viral infections and severe complications, must be able to safely physically distance at home. To boost access to home dialysis on a global scale, IHDR members committed to collaborate, through the COVID-19 public health emergency and beyond, to promote uptake of home dialysis on a broad scale. Their commitments included increasing the reach and influence of key stakeholders with policy makers, building a cooperative of advocates and champions for home dialysis, working together to increase patient engagement and empowerment, and sharing intelligence about policy, education, and other programs so that such efforts can be operationalized globally. In the spirit of international cooperation, IHDR members agreed to document, amplify, and replicate established efforts shown to improve access to home dialysis and support new policies that facilitate access through procedures, innovation, and reimbursement.