Fact Sheet - President Donald J. Trump Is Taking a Bold New Approach to Advance Kidney Health

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.