Treatments that used to happen only in hospitals and clinical settings continue to move into the home. Kidney disease patients who use a Fresenius Liberty Select Cycler for peritoneal dialysis at home won’t need as many in-person appointments with their clinicians, thanks to a recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance. The FDA granted Fresenius Medical Care North America clearance to upgrade the cycler for remote therapy management (RTM) with the Kinexus Therapy Management Platform. With the upgraded system, physicians can now modify therapy remotely.
Patient care teams can access treatment data from up to 90 days remotely with Liberty Select with Kinexus. Clinicians can evaluate the treatment effectiveness and make adjustments as needed, without visiting the patient’s home. Additional patient benefits with the Kinexus platform include daily patient health inputs, options for flow alert alarms so the system will be less likely to alert patients during the night, and a more transparent patient view of the overall peritoneal filtration process.
According to Fresenius Kidney Care Associate Chief Medical Officer Dinesh Chatoth, company research indicates that the ability to make timely remote treatment adjustments in the first months of peritoneal dialysis therapy may cut attrition by nearly 90%. Company data from more than one million treatments also suggest patients who stick with peritoneal dialysis may have fewer hospitalizations, less treatment failure, and live longer. Overall, the clearance for RTM sounds like a win-win-win for kidney patients and their healthcare professionals.
