Home > Contact/Media > Press Release - March 30, 2011

HOLLYWOOD, Fla., March 30, 2011 
RENAL CAREPARTNERS Woodbridge, VA facility was recently featured in the Mid-Atlantic Renal Coalition’s (MARC) quarterly newsletter, REMARCS. In the feature article MARC commends and discusses how RCP-Woodbridge overcame common obstacles and barriers to raise their arteriovenousfistula (AVF) rate to 68.2 % “through a mixture of creativity, passion, and preparedness.”

“We are extremely proud of our extraordinary patient care team at RCP-Woodbridge. RENAL CAREPARTNERS is committed to the highest standard of patient care in the industry and achieving recognition from MARC’s Fistula First Recognition Program is a true testament to that commitment. Our Facility Administrator for RCP-Woodbridge, Naomi Carbone, and her patient care team are nothing short of exceptional. We applaud them for their continuous efforts in improving patient outcomes” says Orestes Lugo, CEO and President of RENAL CAREPARTNERS.

Jim Spafford, COO for RENAL CAREPARTNERS, added, “We pride ourselves on having the most highly specialized and experienced team of patient caregivers in renal science in each and every community we serve.”

MARC’s Fistula First Recognition Program acknowledges Network facilities that have above-average AVF rates. When the program was launched Naomi immediately saw it as an opportunity to improve the health of the patients that she and her team serve. Her enthusiasm for the program spread and as a result RENAL CAREPARTNERS announced a company-wide bonus program designed to reward facilities that could reach a 65% AVF rate by December 2010.

Naomi approached this challenge by working to identify the barriers that prevented patients from beginning dialysis with a functioning AVF. She learned that physicians were missing opportunities to be more proactive about vascular access education with their patients and could often refer earlier for evaluation. She also found that hospitalized patients were not being consistently referred for AVF assessment prior to discharge. Her research revealed that catheter patients were more challenging to educate for a number of reasons. Based on her findings Naomi developed an early education and intervention plan designed to provide all patients with comprehensive information about vascular access options.

The plan focused on working with nephrologist to discuss the benefits of AVF use with patients prior to their first treatment. As a result, it is now standard practice for hospital patients to have an AVF evaluation and to be scheduled for placement prior to discharge. To complement the physician’s early education efforts Naomi began to meet with every catheter patient during their first visit to the facility to explain the benefits of having an AVF. In addition, she designated Sheila Benzie, RN, as the facilities vascular access manager. Sheila started monitoring all AVF patients with Vasc-Alert. Vasc-Alert is a computer-based surveillance program that recognizes access problems early before the access clots. To learn more about Vasc-Alert please visitwww.vasc-alert.com. A strong relationship with the medical staff at a local vascular access center helps facilitate patient’s access problems being resolved quickly. Naomi has also instituted many other creative practices to further the progress of improving quality of care including patient representatives that are available to discuss perceived issues related to AVF use and various rewards programs designed to motivate patients to seek information about AVF placement.

The focus at RCP-Woodbridge is very clear. Every patient deserves the opportunity to be educated on the benefits of AVF use, even when barriers are present. Naomi and her team work every single day to ensure that every patient is properly educated on their access options. The full article can be views at the Mid-Atlantic Renal Coalition’s web site at the following link: http://www.esrdnet5.org/REMARCSFebruary2011.pdf.

About RENAL CAREPARTNERS 
RENAL CAREPARTNERS focuses on developing new start-up (de novo) treatment facilities in partnership with physicians and also acquires existing dialysis units in all markets. RENAL CAREPARTNERS has 21 operations spanning 8 states and serves over 1,000 patients Formore information about RENAL CAREPARTNERS please visit: www.renalcp.com.