"Make a monthly bucket list. For example, I'll try one new restaurant or see one new movie a month, or meet up with one friend a week."
— Shared by Carmen Reinke, Peritoneal Dialysis-Kansas
Shane Perry is the Quality Improvement Analytic Manager at Heartland Kidney Network. He has been involved in the ESRD Network program since May 1999 in various roles, and having served the renal communities from the heartland of America to the Atlantic Ocean shore.

His background is in business administration, information technology and systems support, project management, and developing improvement programs for patient-level clinical core indicators and facility-level quality metrics. Before working for Heartland Kidney Network full-time, Shane provided CROWNWeb training (back in 2009) to dialysis staff around Kansas City, St. Louis and Des Moines.

If you ever have a question about the Network, please reach out to us at 816-880-9990 . 
Patient Engagement
New Patient Group Resource
This year, the Network has worked with facilities in the Quality Improvement Activities to increase patient engagement. One of CMS’s patient engagement objectives is to increase peer to peer support through patient groups.

The Network has collected information from the facilities in the region on the available patient groups and compiled a listing by state as well as some national peer to peer resources and Facebook groups.

2019 Calendar Update
We have received several calls from patients and facilities asking if there would be a new My Kidney Calendar. Unfortunately, the resource in its current form will not be available in 2019.

The Network will continue to promote a different topic of the month and provide resource and patient engagement ideas. A new Patient Engagement Calendar will be coming soon.  
SAVE THE DATE
2019 Transplant Symposium | March 28, 2019
My Kidney Calendar | October
To prepare for December – review the latest topic sheet for resources and activities on “My Choices: My Lifeline” with information on caring for their dialysis access. 

The Network recognizes that facilities are always working hard to develop and implement creative and engaging activities for their patients, through bulletin boards, games and lobby days to name a few.

Please share the great work you are doing through the reporting link offered with the topic sheet.

We encourage you to review the monthly "Topic of the Month"   sheet with your Network Patient Representative and brainstorm ideas on how to best address the topic in your facility. 
My Kidney Calendar | November
Each month the Network shares ideas based upon the "topic of the month" in conjunction with the 2018 My Kidney Calendar. November’s monthly topic of the My Kidney Calendar is “My Life: Thriving More than Surviving.”

This month we encourage all facilities to conduct a patient engagement activity with information to help patients thrive and have their optimum quality of life beyond the treatment chair. We shared the some resources last month in order to prepare.

If you didn’t get a chance to review them or want to see the other topics addressed so far this year, please check out the “ Topic of the Month ” list.

You can also check out the Patient Engagement Showcase to see the creative ideas shared by dialysis facility staff.
Explore Transplant Dialysis Provider Training

Date: Nov. 30, 2018
Location: Springfield, Mo.
2019 CMS Quality Conference


Date: Jan. 29-31, 2019
Location: Baltimore, Md.
KCER: Preparing for and Managing Emergencies Town Hall
Please join us for the November Town Hall event where CMS and the OCT Team will lead a discussion with the Kidney Coalition Emergency Response (KCER) Team.

KCER will discuss its role in emergency coordination and the importance of keeping patient and clinical information up to date in CMS systems.

Date: Nov. 29, 2018
Time: 2 p.m. ET
Missouri Kidney Program’s
New YouTube Channel
This channel has 8 Chronic Kidney Disease educational videos and a MOKP introduction video. Please share with your patients and staff!


NHSN Reminders
NHSN is the nation’s most widely used healthcare-associated infection tracking system. NHSN provides facilities, states, regions, and the nation with data needed to identify problem areas, measure progress of prevention efforts, and ultimately eliminate healthcare-associated infections.

Want more information? Questions?
Click on these links: NHSN | NHSN Helpdesk
End Stage Renal Disease National Coordinating Center
Quality Improvement Activity Learning and Action Networks (ESRD NCC QIA LAN)

The ESRD NCC hosts a series of calls based on topics of the CMS Quality Improvement Activities (QIAs). These include: Blood Stream Infection (BSI), Home Modality, Transplant, and Depression. ALL ESRD facilities will receive invitations to these meetings because improving the lives of dialysis patients in these areas is a global goal. The expectation is that project facilities join these calls but the calls are optional for non-participating facilities. Please also share these calls with your patients.

If you have questions, please call the Network office at 816-880-9990 . 

Past Events
Oct. 2, 2018
Blood Stream Infection QIA LAN Call
Oct. 9, 2018
Increase Home Modality QIA LAN Call
Oct. 16, 2018
Increase Transplant Waitlist QIA LAN Call
ALERTS
This resource was developed while under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Contract #HHSM-500-2016-00012C. The contents presented do not necessarily reflect CMS policy. 18.Q-ESRD12.05.049