Ontario Renal Plan will drive change in health, accountability and value for money in chronic kidney disease care

TORONTO, June 5, 2012 /CNW/ - Cancer Care Ontario's (CCO) Ontario Renal Network (ORN) has released Ontario's first-ever renal plan, a three year plan focused on improving care for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

"The number of people living with chronic kidney disease risk factors in Ontario is rising," said Deb Matthews, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. "This plan will work to keep Ontarians healthy by helping to slow the progression of CKD, while improving the quality of care and treatment for current and future patients."

Areas targeted in the Ontario Renal Plan include: slowing the progression of CKD, improving patient experience to have more control over care; increasing healthy, functioning vascular access for hemodialysis; and ensuring that capacity plans are adequate to meet current and future needs.

"The Ontario Renal Plan was developed collaboratively with healthcare providers across the province. It's based on input provided by clinicians, policy experts, regional planners, and most importantly, the people who use Ontario's CKD system," said Michael Sherar, President and CEO, Cancer Care Ontario. "The plan will guide us in improving the life of every person with kidney disease in Ontario by supporting excellent, evidence-based CKD patient care."

By 2015, the plan seeks to guide improvements in:

• The experiences of CKD patients and their families at every stage of their journey with knowledge and tools to manage their health in collaboration with their care providers.
• Early detection and prevention through appropriate screening, improved partnerships between primary and specialty care providers and the utilization of effective clinical tools.
• Appropriate body access for peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis.
• CKD infrastructure, which includes the needs for equipment, physical space and human resources.
• Research and innovation.
• Patient-based funding that ensures better patient care throughout the full patient journey and provides greater value for money for the health system.

The Ontario Renal Plan provides provincial guidance to Ontario's healthcare system: its implementation is regionally directed.  CKD programs will be showcasing the relationship between the provincial plan and local implementation stories at a series of local events throughout 2012.  The first event is Thursday, June 7, 2012 at The Scarborough Hospital.

Read the full report at www.renalnetwork.on.ca

Cancer Care Ontario - an Ontario government agency - drives quality and continuous improvement in disease prevention and screening, the delivery of care and the patient experience, for cancer, chronic kidney disease and access to care for key health services. Known for its innovation and results-driven approaches, CCO leads multi-year system planning, contracts for services with hospitals and providers, develops and deploys information systems, establishes guidelines and standards and tracks performance targets to ensure system-wide improvements in cancer, chronic kidney disease and access to care.

The Ontario Renal Network (ORN), part of Cancer Care Ontario, provides overall leadership and strategic direction to effectively organize and manage the delivery of renal services in Ontario in a consistent and coordinated manner. Priorities include establishing consistent standards and guidelines for renal care, planning for service delivery, and putting in place information systems to measure performance.

Backgrounder - http://www.renalnetwork.on.ca/common/pages/UserFile.aspx?fileId=134287

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Three patients with chronic kidney failure treated at a dialysis center in Los Angeles County, California contracted sepsis caused by improper cleaning and disinfection of a dialyzer.

Described in a poster presented at the 39th Annual Educational Conference and International Meeting of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health, conducted an investigation led by public health nurse L’Tanya English, RN, MPH, who found that the bacteria infecting the three patients were genetically linked. These patients were infected with Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (S. maltophilia), a rare type of Gram-negative bacteria.

 
Two of these patients were also positive for Candida parapsilosis (C. parapsilosis), a fungus that can cause sepsis in immune-compromised patients. One of these patients was positive for C. parapsilosis in the dialyzer only, and one patient was positive for Candida in the blood and in the dialyzer, which was genetically traced back to the same fungus in a faucet in the reprocessing room, where the dialyzers are disinfected and sanitized. The infections were reported to the health department in August 2011.

Two patients developed fevers and were hospitalized. One patient was assessed and treated as an outpatient; all patients later recovered.

The County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health became aware of the situation when a hospital in southern California reported an outbreak of sepsis tied to one dialysis center. During the course of their investigation, they discovered that all of the cases used the same type of dialyzer with a removable component – an O-ring header. These three patients were the only ones in the facility to use this type of dialyzer. In response to this outbreak, the facility decided to discontinue use of multi-use dialyzers with O-ring headers.

“Hemodialysis technology is life-saving, but carries a high risk of infection, regardless of the type of dialyzer used,” says English. “Dialysis centers must work to reduce the risk of infection for their patients by ensuring proper cleaning and disinfection procedures are being followed throughout the facility. If multi-use dialyzers with removable headers and O-rings are used, processes to ensure proper disinfection must be in place.”

The County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health is working with state and federal partners to conduct outreach to dialysis centers to decrease dialysis-associated infections and will discuss lessons learned from the investigation at the APIC Annual Conference.

“Contaminated O-rings have been previously implicated in dialysis-associated infection outbreaks. This report underscores the need for adequate infection prevention training in dialysis settings, as well as the critical partnership between public health departments and infection preventionists in hospitals and outpatient settings,” says Michelle Farber, RN, CIC, APIC's 2012 president. “Collaboration with public health is essential to pinpoint the cause of infection outbreaks and improve infection prevention practices across all healthcare settings.”

Hemodialysis is a life-saving procedure that uses an artificial kidney, or dialyzer, to remove waste from the blood when the kidneys no longer work. It is most often the treatment for end-stage renal disease. Following cardiovascular disease, infection is the second highest cause of death for hemodialysis patients.

The most recent draft of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-associated Infections: Roadmap to Elimination includes a revised chapter on efforts to prevent and reduce healthcare-associated infections in end-stage renal disease patients.

In an effort to establish best practices for protecting patients undergoing hemodialysis, APIC published a Guide to the Elimination of Infections in Hemodialysis and has an archived webinar on dialysis event surveillance and reporting.

Poster Presentation #9-136 – Outbreak investigation at a dialysis center associated with a multi-use dialyzer with removable headers and O-rings, Los Angeles County.

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“We would like to assure the public that patients will not die if they undergo dialysis or transplant, but instead they (treatments) would prolong life,” she told the media during the Kapihan sa PIA on June 1 in time for the kick off of the National Kidney Month celebration.

Bad-ang said that the renal disease awareness and prevention campaign this year focuses on urging patients to submit themselves to treatment, following a report that chronic renal disease is now among the top 10 causes of mortality in the country.

Moreover, Bad-ang lamented that Davao Region placed fourth in the whole country as having the most number of new patients in hemodialysis in 2010.

She also reported that the number of new dialysis patients is increasing every year by 10 percent based on the data from the Philippine Renal Disease Registry 2010, which she said is “alarming.”

She said 5.9 percent of the 9,716 new dialysis patients registered in 2010 came from the region, explaining however that this may be because Davao Region is the center of diagnosis and treatment for patients coming from other parts in Mindanao.

At present, there are 243 dialysis patients at the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) alone, added Bad-ang.

“We have to act now,” Bad-ang emphasized, noting that there are treatment options offered for the patients, such as dialysis and kidney transplant.

However, she said each treatment comes with a cost, citing that the rate of the hemodialysis, which is done two to three times a week, ranges from P500 to P800 per session.

For the kidney transplant operation, about P600,000 to P800,000 would be required for a patient with kidney donor who is a relative, while the patient without a kidney donor relative would need up to P1.2 million.

Bad-ang also raised the importance of a yearly urine examination as a step for an early recognition and prevention of the underlying causes of the kidney disease.

The Renal Disease Control Program (REDCOP)-National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) said that the leading cause of the end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) is defined to be the complete or almost complete failure of the kidneys to function, secondary are diabetes mellitus and hypertension.

REDCOP-NKTI added that maintenance of normal blood sugar levels and blood pressure is very important to prevent or delay the development of kidney problems that usually lead to ESKD. (CLC-PIA 11)

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Richmond, VA (PRWEB) June 05, 2012

Wheat Systems Integration (WSI), a leading technology communications and security integration firm, and Health Informatics International (HII), an electronic health records (EHR) and billing services firm, both headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, are pleased to announce today a merger and the creation of a new company that will be called INFIAN.

Wheat Systems is a full service IT and data, networking, telecommunications and security technology firm. Wheat provides a complete range of IT, unified communications and corporate services to address the business needs of government, education, healthcare, and commercial organizations. HII is a healthcare technology company that develops and supports EHR and medical billing systems and offers revenue cycle management services for physician offices and dialysis clinics.

With the merger of the two companies, Infian will become one of central Virginia’s largest IT services companies with a wide range of capabilities, from software and systems development, to networking, security and information solutions, to data, hardware and network monitoring and help desk solution center. “This is truly a merger of equals, resulting in a company that is exponentially stronger. With our comprehensive capabilities, we are well prepared to deliver on the ever-expanding technology needs of our clients,” says Infian’s CEO Beth Evans, former CEO of HII.

“The capabilities and resources each company brings to the table are strikingly complementary,” says Mike Wheat, Infian’s CIO and former CIO of WSI. “The IT services side of the business will be able to expand and better serve our combined clients thanks to the well-established operations and processes we can leverage from HII’s experience.” The two companies share business mindset and complement each other both strategically and philosophically. Wheat adds, “The work we have always done as a team focused on making a difference as we provide cost-effective solutions for our customers. We strive to provide substantially more solution at less cost and, as is our trademark, with the highest quality.”

HII has the same core values as Wheat. “Our clients rely on us as a trusted partner, because of our mission to improve patient care with systems that make our clients more efficient and save them money,” said Beth Evans. “Infian has a complete technical bench in a world moving towards greater security, interoperability, virtual computing and cloud technology. Our combined core competencies move us closer to a shared vision of what 21st century technology is and will be.”

About WSI: Founded in 2002, Wheat Systems Integration is a data, networking, telecommunications and security technology firm headquartered in Richmond, VA. Capabilities include network infrastructure and monitoring, virtualized and wireless networking, cloud and mobility strategies, information security, physical security and help desk solution center--as well as staff augmentation. Wheat Systems was named to the prestigious Inc. 5000 list in 2010, an exclusive roll of the most entrepreneurial and fastest growing companies in America. WSI’s extensive list of certifications and partnerships include Microsoft Gold Partner, NEC Authorized Diamond Associate, Dell Authorized Warranty Parts Direct, Cisco Premier Certified Partner, Apple, Emerson Liebert Network Power, avast! Antivirus, Barracuda Networks, Aerohive, HP, Absolute Software, Enterasys, and KACE Systems Management.

About HII: Founded in 1981, HII is a pioneer in electronic data management and software mediated workflow. HII is also headquartered in Richmond, VA and has installations across the USA, in the UK, and in Ireland. For over 30 years HII has specialized in the renal industry with clinical and financial software for dialysis centers and nephrologists, and offers EHR and financial systems and revenue cycle management for physician offices and dialysis facilities across the country. HII is a market leader with systems installed in over 900 facilities across the USA and in the UK and Ireland.

About Infian: Infian will be a majority woman owned business, SWaM certified, and headquartered in Richmond, Virginia with offices across the USA and in the UK and Ireland. “The name INFIAN describes the nature of our business: information management and technology” explained Marketing Director Steve Guarnieri. “It also relays the term ‘infinite,’ which addresses the vast expertise and capabilities we have to manage vast amounts of critical information.”

For more information please contact: Dave Martin, Marketing Manager, 804-934-9370 x156, dmartin(at)infian(dot)com

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/6/prweb9566292.htm

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