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Community Engagement to Improve Equity in Kidney Transplantation from the Ground Up: the Southeastern Kidney Transplant Coalition

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Abstract

Purpose of Review

The purpose of this review is to describe the Southeastern Kidney Transplant Coalition’s mission, vision, goals, and Early Transplant Access Registry as an example of a community/academic collaboration dedicated to improving access to transplantation and reducing inequities in transplant access.

Recent Findings

The barriers and facilitators to referral and evaluation for kidney transplantation are not necessarily the same as for waitlisting and transplantation. Recent findings suggest that inequities in transplant access are multilevel and multifactorial and require continued community engagement to improve access to kidney transplantation across patients, health systems, and populations.

Summary

Community-engaged approaches are critical to ensuring that inequities in transplant access — which may vary across regions — are not only described but are addressed in practice in a sustainable manner.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the Southeastern Kidney Transplant Coalition for their significant assistance with the work mentioned in this review and ESRD Network 6 for their critical role in this collaboration, especially Shannon Wright, Alexandra Cruz, and Joseph Gulotta. The authors would also like to thank other key founding members of the SEKTx Coalition, including Jenna Krisher of the former Southeastern Kidney Council of ESRD Network 6 and the late William M. McClellan, MD, MPH.

Funding

This research is financially supported by (1) the Reducing Disparities in Access to Kidney Transplantation (RaDIANT) Community Study (R24MD008077); (2) the RaDIANT Regional Study; (U01MD010611); and (3) the RaDIANT Expansion Study (R01DK122701). The study funders had no role in the preparation, review, approval of the manuscript, or decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The authors assume responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the manuscript and ideas presented.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Health Services Research Center, Emory University School of Medicine, 101 Woodruff Circle, 5101 Woodruff Memorial Research Building, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA

    Rachel E. Patzer, Samantha Retzloff & Jade Buford

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Rachel E. Patzer

  3. Center for Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Georgia, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Jennifer Gander

  4. College of Social Work, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

    Teri Browne

  5. Vidant Medical Center, Greenville, NC, USA

    Heather Jones

  6. Department of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Matt Ellis

  7. Department of Surgery, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Matt Ellis

  8. National Kidney Foundation, New York, NY, USA

    Kelley Canavan

  9. Southeastern Kidney Transplant Coalition Patient Partner, Arlington, TX, USA

    Alexander Berlin

  10. Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Augusta University, Augusta, GA, USA

    Laura Mulloy

  11. Piedmont Healthcare, Piedmont Transplant Institute, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Eric Gibney

  12. Alliant Quality Improvement Services Group, Alliant Health Solutions, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Leighann Sauls

  13. Abdominal Organ Transplant Program, Wake Forest Baptist Health, Winston Salem, NC, USA

    Dori Muench

  14. Department of Internal Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston Salem, NC, USA

    Amber Reeves-Daniel

  15. Division of Nephrology, University of South Carolina Keck School of Medicine, Columbia, SC, USA

    Carlos Zayas

  16. Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA

    Derek DuBay

  17. Apex Health Innovations, Simi Valley, CA, USA

    Rich Mutell

  18. Renal Division, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Stephen O. Pastan

Authors
  1. Rachel E. Patzer
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  2. Samantha Retzloff
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  12. Leighann Sauls
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  16. Derek DuBay
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  18. Stephen O. Pastan
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the Southeastern Kidney Transplant Coalition

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Correspondence to Rachel E. Patzer.

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Patzer, R.E., Retzloff, S., Buford, J. et al. Community Engagement to Improve Equity in Kidney Transplantation from the Ground Up: the Southeastern Kidney Transplant Coalition. Curr Transpl Rep 8, 324–332 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40472-021-00346-x

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