FMCNA Couples Analytical Excellence with Safety-Driven Culture in New Fresenius Patient Safety Council

COUNCIL ENHANCES DATA SHARING CAPABILITIES AND DATA-DRIVEN SAFETY INNOVATIONS FOR INTEGRATED RENAL CARE NETWORK

WALTHAM, MASS. – Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA), the continent’s leading provider of kidney care products and services, today announced its intent to transition its Patient Safety Organization (PSO) to the Fresenius Medical Care Patient Safety Council, a new structure charged with enhancing patient safety for the largest integrated renal care network in the nation. 

“Our company’s ongoing transformation into an integrated care network of numerous clinical components with their own patient safety initiatives results in an enterprise that is different—and more complex—than the current structure served by a listed Patient Safety Organization (PSO),” said Dr. Franklin W. Maddux, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of Clinical and Scientific Affairs for FMCNA. “The Council’s broader focus allows the potential for greater analysis and information sharing with appropriate clinical providers, and in turn, patient safety innovations that are uniquely data-driven. This endeavor is a logical next step in our cultural evolution toward fully integrated, seamless care.”

The Council continues the work of the legacy PSO and is expected to provide a coordinated, broader look at patient safety across the span of clinical care that FMCNA’s patients traverse. The new Council builds on the company’s culture of excellence, with FMCNA’s Fresenius Kidney Care division achieving the country’s largest number of top-rated Five-Star dialysis centers, based on the annual Dialysis Facility Compare Five-Star Quality Rating System issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). In addition, in 2016, nearly 99% of Fresenius Kidney Care dialysis clinics achieved the rigorous national 5 Diamond Patient Safety Award designation.

“With the formation of our new Patient Safety Council, we have chosen to voluntarily relinquish the legacy PSO from the purview of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which was granted on January 6, 2017,” said Dr. Jerry Jackson, head of the Patient Safety Organization. “The voluntary relinquishment transitions the Patient Safety Council to a more flexible working body aimed at broadening educational, strategic and advisory activities around patient safety.“

As the largest and most comprehensive integrated renal care company in North America, FMCNA is unmatched in its ability to gather and analyze immense amounts of clinical data from within the company’s clinical ecosystem, a key driver in the company’s direct patient care efforts, quality improvement programs and coordinated care integration. The company has collected data on more than 250 million dialysis treatments, more than 1 billion medication administrations and over 1 billion laboratory results.

“The same analytical excellence that drives our innovations in patient care can also be used to enhance a culture of patient safety across the continuum of care,” continued Maddux.

FMCNA is the largest vertically integrated dialysis provider in North America, as well as the largest participant in CMS’s Comprehensive End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Care Initiative, the nation’s first disease-specific shared savings program, designed to identify, test, and evaluate new ways to improve care for ESRD patients. As a trailblazer in this initiative, FMCNA operates six ESRD Seamless Care Organizations (ESCOs) across the country—more than any other provider—innovating beyond traditional methods of care delivery with a patient-centric focus that addresses the unique needs of each individual, both in and outside the dialysis center.

About Fresenius Medical Care North America

Fresenius Medical Care North America is the premier health care company focused on providing the highest quality care to people with renal and other chronic conditions. Through its industry-leading network of dialysis centers, outpatient cardiac and vascular labs and urgent care centers, as well as the continent’s largest practice of hospitalist and post-acute providers, Fresenius Medical Care North America provides coordinated health care services at pivotal care points for hundreds of thousands of chronically ill customers. As the world’s largest fully vertically integrated renal company, it offers specialty pharmacy and laboratory services, and manufactures and distributes the most comprehensive line of dialysis equipment, disposable products and renal pharmaceuticals. For more information, visit www.FMCNA.com. For information about patient services, visit www.freseniuskidneycare.com.