Patient & Family Resources

Clinical Trial Information is a search tool you can use to learn more about kidney-related clinical trials and investigational treatments available.

End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Networks assure appropriate care for patients who receive treatment through dialysis clinics and kidney transplant centers certified by Medicare. The Networks' responsibilities include: quality monitoring and improvement of the care ESRD patients receive, the collecting of data to administer the national Medicare ESRD program, providing technical assistance to patients who have ESRD and providers, and addressing patient grievances.

Dialysis Facility Compare: find and compare dialysis centers. Call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227); TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048.

Get Affordable Health Care: the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) online search engine to find free and low-cost health centers.

healthfinder.gov is an online search engine to locate a doctor, health center, organization, nursing homes, long-term care facilities, etc.

Nursing Home Compare allows you to compare information about every Medicare and Medicaid-Certified Nursing Home in the US and also provides information on other long-term care choices like community-based services, home care, or assisted living.

The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) is the unified transplant network established by the United States Congress under the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) of 1984. The act called for the network to be operated by a private, non-profit organization under federal contract. The OPTN is a unique public-private partnership that links all of the professionals involved in the donation and transplantation system. The primary goals of the OPTN are to: increase the effectiveness and efficiency of organ sharing and equity in the national system of organ allocation, and to increase the supply of donated organs available for transplantation. Find a transplant center.

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) manages the waiting list for a transplant in the U.S. and matches donors to recipients. Each transplant center's waiting list is part of the "national waiting list" that UNOS manages. UNOS administers the OPTN under contract with the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.