Provision of Kidney Disease Education Service is Associated with Improved Vascular Access Outcomes among the US Incident Hemodialysis Patients

Background: Pre-end stage renal disease (ESRD) Kidney Disease Education (KDE) has been shown to improve multiple chronic kidney disease (CKD) outcomes but, its impact on vascular access outcomes is not well-studied. In 2010, Medicare launched KDE reimbursements policy for patients with advanced CKD. Methods: In this retrospective USRDS analysis, we identified all adult incident hemodialysis patients with a minimum of 6-months of pre-ESRD Medicare coverage during the first five-years of CMS-KDE policy and divided them into CMS-KDE services recipients (KDE-cohort) and non-recipients (non-KDE cohort). The primary outcome was incident arteriovenous fistula (AVF) and the composite of incident AVF or arteriovenous graft (AVG) utilization. Secondary outcomes were central venous catheter (CVC) with maturing AVF/AVG and pure CVC utilizations. Step-wise multivariate analyses were performed in four progressive models (model 1: KDE alone, model 2: multivariate model encompassing model 1 with socio-demographics, model 3: model 2 with comorbidity and functional status, and model 4: model 3 with pre-ESRD nephrology care). Results: Of the 211,990 qualifying incident hemodialysis patients during the study period, 2,887(1.4%) received KDE services before dialysis initiation. The rates of incident AVF and composite AVF/AVG were more than double (29.7% and 34.9% respectively, compared to 14.2% and 17.2%) and pure catheter use about a third lower (40.4% compared to 64.5%) in the KDE cohort compared to the non-KDE cohort. Maximally adjusted odds ratio(99% confidence interval) in model 4 for study outcomes were: incident AVF use: 1.78 (1.55-2.05), incident AVF/AVG use: 1.78 (1.56-2.03), incident CVC with maturing AVF/AVG: 1.69 (1.44-1.97)and pure CVC without any AVF/AVG: 0.51 (0.45-0.58). The benefits of KDE service were maintained even after accounting for the presence, duration and facility of ESRD care. Conclusion: Occurrence of pre-ESRD KDE service is associated with significantly improved incident vascular access outcomes. Targeted studies are needed to examine the impact of KDE on patient engagement and self-efficacy as a cause for improvement in vascular access outcomes.