Jul 09, 2012
Are you thinking about a kidney transplant for you or someone you love? Are you looking into the success others had with kidney transplants to help you understand what to expect? The 150,000 patients who got their transplant in the last 6 years can help you. Patients like you shared with me that knowing what happened for most of these 150,000 patients over and over again gives you comfort and a starting point on what to do to raise your own chances. Here is what you can learn from them:
Jul 05, 2012
If you are looking for a kidney transplant center you may feel lost. As you start on the complex and highly emotional journey to a life-saving transplant, you may not know where to begin. Though you do know that the success of your kidney transplant depends on the kidney transplant center, you may not have a clear path on how to find a good one. You have probably asked your doctor about centers s/he would recommend, called centers near you or searched Google and talked to family and friends. How do you put it all together to make the best choice?
Jul 02, 2012
Most patients who are considering a kidney transplant and are looking for the best kidney transplant center think that the bigger the center the better it will be. In fact, this perception is cultivated by many doctors. In the absence of easy to find information on the success rates of kidney transplant centers, many doctors recommend larger centers to their patients. A patient I met shared why her doctor recommended a particular center: “This center does hundreds of procedures. They have experience.”
Jun 27, 2012
In my work with patients and families who are considering a kidney transplant, I have found that people have a common goal: Get the best care by going to the best kidney transplant center. However, they go about this goal in different ways. Some patients “want the facts to make decisions” while others think that their “doctor knows best”. They are the fact finders and the comfort seekers. Patients of course don’t neatly fall in one category or the other. It’s more a matter of preference and where you mostly lean toward in these two ends of the spectrum. Where do you lean in your way of making this life saving decision? How can you use your own way most effectively to find the best kidney transplant center for you or the one you love?
Jun 26, 2012
Changing kidney transplant centers can help if you want to cut your wait for a kidney or to expedite the process to surgery. For patients who need to wait for a kidney from a deceased donor the average time is 25 months. This is the average wait time across all transplant centers and across all patients. In fact, some patients wait longer than 5 years. The wait time is different from center to center and transferring to a center with a shorter wait can cut your wait time in half. Transferring to a different center can also help if you have a living donor and you are experiencing difficulties during evaluation.
Jun 15, 2012
Are you looking for a kidney transplant center? Do you want to go to the best but don’t know where the best is? Read on to learn how to use the facts on a kidney transplant center as your starting point.
Jun 14, 2012
If you are considering a kidney transplant, think about the kidney transplant center you go to. You can choose where to go. Medicare and private PPO insurance cover most of the 246 kidney transplant centers in the US, and if you do have these types of insurance you can go to any center near you, near a relative or across the country.
Jun 12, 2012
I have met hundreds of kidney patients who want to get a kidney transplant but don't know where to go. Some want to go to the best but don't know which is the best. Others don't even know they have a choice for a transplant center: They assume that the center their doctor recommended or a center they have heard about is their only option. You do have several options for a kidney transplant center and you can find the ones best for you.
Sep 27, 2011
SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) and STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer Research) grants are critical sources of seed-stage funding for biotech and biopharma entrepreneurs. However, with a funding rate of only 12%, they can be hard to come by. QB3 hosted a workshop last Wednesday, September 21, to offerUCSF affiliates insight to improve their odds of receiving this translational NIHfunding. (Presented at the University of California San Francisco QB3 workshop)
Apr 10, 2011
The observed/expected (O/E) methodology has been used to measure variation of outcomes across transplant centers. Reports of variability were introduced in 2001 aiming at helping transplant centers improve their performance. (Presented at the National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meeting)
Nov 10, 2010
The existing O/E methodology doesn’t filter data noise effectively, and therefore, overestimates centers on the extremes: best vs. worst outcomes. It has been used to measure variation of outcomes across transplant centers. Reports of variability were introduced in 2001 aiming at helping transplant centers improve their performance. The ME method was developed to better filter data noise. (Presented at the American Society of Nephrology Annual Conference)
Apr 19, 2013
Apr 01, 2012
Jul 09, 2012
Jul 05, 2012