Video
Changing Practice Patterns in CKD
Author(s):
Closing out the discussion, an expert in chronic kidney disease (CKD) highlights how care for patients with CKD may change in the future based on data presented at AMCP.
Robert Toto, MD: I think that payers can play an important role in advancing the care of patients with chronic kidney disease by recognizing the value of new drugs that come into practice and focusing on the value of using these drugs in the overall care of the patient. That is to say, payers paying for drugs that are relatively expensive but where the benefit really outweighs the cost. I’m sure this is on their minds, and I’m sure they talk about it all the time. I think that a closer working relationship between payers, health systems, the FDA, and the drug manufacturers could help to facilitate the improvement of the outcomes of patients with chronic kidney disease. That’s why I would urge them to take that, if you will, “team approach” to helping patients, getting these medications into the hands of providers, and educating them on how to use the medication safety. Here we’re speaking specifically about dapagliflozin. I want to take it from the perspective of advancing care of chronic kidney disease with use of gliflozins like dapagliflozin.
This is where the payers can take a leading role in driving things that are going to help our patients and at the same time reduce overall costs to the health care systems. That includes the insurers who would not only pay for the drug but would also pay for the hospitalization. It’s very oversimplistic, but if it’s a lot cheaper to [pay for] a medication that’s going to keep a patient out of the hospital or off of dialysis, then it’s going to cost the payer less over time.
Transcript edited for clarity.
