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ADVANCING KIDNEY HEALTH: President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order aimed at improving kidney health and promoting increased treatment options for American patients.

  • Today, President Trump is signing an executive order launching a kidney health initiative to improve the lives of Americans suffering from kidney disease. The initiative seeks to:
    • Prevent kidney failure through better diagnosis, treatment, and preventative care.
    • Increase affordable alternative treatment options, educate patients on treatment alternatives, and encourage the development of artificial kidneys.
    • Increase access to kidney transplants by modernizing the transplant system and updating counterproductive regulations.
  • Under the executive order, Medicare will test adjusting payment incentives to encourage preventative kidney care and the use of home dialysis and kidney transplants.
  • President Trump is directing his Administration to develop a process to get artificial kidneys to patients in order to encourage development of such technology.
  • The Administration will take action to streamline and expedite the process of kidney matching in order to help increase transplants.
  • The President is beginning the process of removing financial barriers to organ donation by allowing for reimbursement of lost wages and childcare expenses of organ donors.

IMPROVING TREATMENT OPTIONS: The current quality of care for patients with kidney disease is unacceptable and treatment options are far too expensive.   

  • Across America, 37 million patients suffer from chronic kidney disease and more than 726,000 have end-stage renal disease.
  • Current available treatment options are too expensive and fail to provide a high quality of life.
  • The mortality rate for kidney disease is far too high, with kidney disease ranked as the ninth leading cause of death in America.
  • There are nearly 100,000 Americans waiting to receive a kidney transplant.
  • Each year more than 100,000 Americans begin dialysis to treat end-stage renal disease, fifty percent of whom die within five years.

TAKING A NEW APPROACH: President Trump has refused to accept the status quo and has taken an innovative approach to deliver new treatment options for major diseases.

  • The President has repeatedly sought to make innovative investments that help patients and ultimately lower costs in the long run.
  • The Trump Administration’s pediatric cancer effort has recognized that we need a different approach to cancer treatment options for children.
  • President Trump’s initiative to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic over the next decade will improve Americans’ lives and lower healthcare spending in the long run.
  • The President signed Right to Try into law, which allows terminally ill patients access to potentially lifesaving drugs.