What is Project ECHO?

Working with the National Kidney Foundation to address unique patient-specific barriers to Home Dialysis through the ECHO program across the country has been immensely gratifying.  In addition to seeing documented improvement in our Home rates for Year one, working with the subject matter experts on the Faculty hub has been a particular highlight for me.  I’m looking forward to looking at our outcomes for Year 2 and exploring how we can expand the program to even more dialysis facilities across the country into the future.

Collaborations with invested clinicians in organ donation and deceased donor transplantation have regularly demonstrated positive results.  Project ECHO seeks to leverage the expertise of successful programs and leaders in living donor transplantation and harness the energy of programs around the US to improve the experience, the timeliness, and the throughput of interested living donors to ultimately result in increased numbers of living donors and recipients.  Cooperation rather than competition is central to this mission.

The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) was a collaborative partner in recruiting expert faculty, including nephrologists, primary care providers, pharmacists, social workers, registered dietitians and CKD patient advocates, that served as the subject matter experts in Telligen's Chronic Kidney Disease ECHO® series.

I have been providing care for patients on home dialysis for over 20 years, and participating in Project Echo has been a unique experience to reflect on how I can improve my own practice and do even more to promote home dialysis.  The case-based presentations are incredibly challenging scenarios, but the multi-disciplinary group always manages to come up with novel approaches to consider and I enjoy the engaging discussion.  The didactic presentations challenge the group to re-think some of the conventional wisdom and allow us all to stay on top of best practices.  Project Echo has something to offer everyone, from those who are just starting out a home program, to seasoned practitioners.