December 5, 2024

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Fresenius Medical Care North America, IKONA Health Receive Major Grant to Expand Virtual Reality Healthcare Education, Improve Access in Rural Mississippi

Fresenius Medical Care North America, IKONA Health Receive Major Grant to Expand Virtual Reality Healthcare Education, Improve Access in Rural Mississippi
  • Grant makes it possible for associates to expand kidney disease education and learning project to rural Mississippi patients
  • FMCNA implementing digital reality training in other states

WALTHAM, Mass., Jan. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Fresenius Medical Treatment North The united states (FMCNA), the nation’s top renal care provider, has won a main grant from the Mississippi Department of Health’s (DOH) Business of Rural Overall health and Main Care to grow kidney training by virtual fact (VR).

The Mississippi DOH awarded FMCNA’s treatment shipping arm, Fresenius Kidney Care (FKC), which serves patients via a nationwide community of dialysis facilities and solutions, a grant of a lot more than $130,000 to teach clients in rural Mississippi on the benefits of house therapy using the immersive encounter of digital truth. The VR simulation permits clients to participate in a patient’s journey via household dialysis to assist them far better comprehend what household dialysis involves.

The grant enables FKC to give its dialysis centers in Mississippi with digital fact headsets, and originally delivers an immersive knowledge of a fellow patient’s journey to dwelling dialysis. IKONA Overall health, an immersive discovering enterprise and extensive-time companion of FMCNA, will also develop additional academic modules for both equally people and treatment teams.

“An initial diagnosis of chronic kidney disease can be challenging for people. The digital actuality schooling for our people is a further way we can boost our affected person education and demonstrate them how to be in control of their cure,” reported Dean Chan, Vice President of Kidney Care Advocates at Fresenius Kidney Treatment. “Growing this modern undertaking into rural places of Mississippi will permit our Kidney Treatment Advocates and treatment groups to offer clients in underserved areas a far more knowledgeable working experience of the final decision to move to property treatment and help them be thriving.”  

About 15{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f} of grownups in the United States have long-term kidney sickness (CKD), which could guide to conclusion stage renal disease (ESRD) and possibly call for dialysis treatment method.1 House dialysis delivers clinical end result benefits, greater excellent of lifetime, far more independence for individuals, and decreases the load and time put in touring to and from dialysis services.

The On-Demand Virtual Truth venture was piloted in Transitional Treatment Models (TCUs) by Fresenius Kidney Treatment with guidance from clients who asked for supplemental schooling about dialysis. FKC serves much more than 7,500 patients in 137 outpatient dialysis centers in Mississippi. FKC and IKONA have previously partnered to create digital fact encounters for sufferers in South Carolina, Illinois, and California.

“We are enthusiastic to grow this progressive system to rural communities, the place individuals can drastically benefit from decreased journey time and remedy period with residence treatment,” mentioned Tim Fitzpatrick, Co-founder and CEO of IKONA Health and fitness. “We have an option to scale efficient, VR-centered discovering ordeals to underserved communities to improve knowledge, health and fitness literacy, and all round health and fitness results.”

In just one of the modules, Julian, a patient taking care of kidney disease based in California, demonstrates how his daily life modified since he switched to household hemodialysis. House therapy lets Julian additional time to journey, go after his hobbies, cook dinner healthful food items at dwelling, and regulate his get the job done routine. Julian demonstrates viewers how he dialyzes at house 5 situations for each 7 days, with each session long lasting two to a few hours alternatively of touring four hours every single way, 3 periods a 7 days, for in-centre treatment method.

Home hemodialysis individuals frequently achieve superior well being results by dialyzing far more commonly as directed by a doctor. Extra frequent dialysis improved mimics purely natural kidney perform leading to 36{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f} less prescriptions for blood strain treatment and enhanced five-yr survival charges.2,3,4 Patients who dialyze extra usually are also additional likely to acquire transplants, with transplantation incidence enhanced by 14{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f} in individuals who use residence therapies.5

“Virtual reality has the energy to enable people working with CKD or ESRD to envision the probability of house dialysis,” Chan said. “This technology exhibits us how sufferers can increase their wellbeing and develop into additional educated about their therapy.”

References

  1. Centers for Illness Manage and Prevention. Continual Kidney Sickness in the United States, 2021. Atlanta, GA: US Office of Health and Human Expert services, Facilities for Illness Control and Avoidance 2021.
  2. Kotanko P, Garg AX, Depner T, et al. Effects of repeated hemodialysis on blood strain: Benefits from the randomized recurrent hemodialysis network trials. Hemodial Int. 201519(3):386-401.
  3. U.S. Renal Facts Procedure, USRDS 2015 Once-a-year Knowledge Report: Desk 6.3.
  4. Data resource: NxStage patient information on file.
  5. Weinhandl E, Liu J, Gilbertson D, Arneson T, Collins A. Transplant incidence in recurrent hemodialysis and matched thrice-weekly hemodialysis people. Poster offered at National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Conference, 2012.

About Fresenius Professional medical Treatment North The us 

Fresenius Medical Care North The united states (FMCNA) is the premier health care company concentrated on giving the greatest good quality care to persons with renal and other chronic disorders. As a result of its marketplace-primary network of dialysis amenities and outpatient cardiac and vascular labs, Fresenius Medical Treatment North The us gives coordinated health care solutions at pivotal treatment factors for hundreds of countless numbers of chronically ill buyers through the continent. As the world’s largest completely built-in renal corporation, it gives specialty pharmacy and laboratory services, and manufactures and distributes the most detailed line of dialysis devices, disposable merchandise, and renal pharmaceuticals. For additional data, go to the FMCNA web site.

About IKONA Wellbeing

IKONA, Inc. is a finding out platform reliable by about 250 clinics to enhance results for people with conclusion stage kidney ailment (ESKD) using virtual actuality and analytics. The firm’s pro workforce of clinicians, people, researchers, and technologists are constructing a pipeline of proof-based mostly studying items throughout sophisticated persistent areas, including ESKD, Continual Kidney Condition (CKD), Transplantation, Diabetes Mellitus and much more. IKONA is funded by the Countrywide Science Foundation, Office of Protection, StartUp Health, On Deck, NVIDIA and was named a Major 200 EdTech Startup globally in the 2022 GSV Cup. To learn additional about the company’s mission to launch 10 million personalized discovering journeys by 2030, you should visit the IKONA Wellbeing web-site.

Media Speak to

Fresenius Healthcare Care North The us
Scott Sayres
[email protected]
+1 (940) 297-5678

IKONA Well being
Jacqueline Benintende                      
[email protected]

Henry Peck 
[email protected]

Source Fresenius Health care Care Holdings, Inc.