Statement from Jesse Roach, MD, senior vice president for government relations of the National Kidney Foundation on the HHS Kidney Care National Plan
(DALLAS, TX - October 20, 2026) - “For too long, America has invested far more in treating kidney failure than in preventing it. Today’s plan recognizes that we can—and must—do better.
The National Kidney Foundation welcomes HHS’s focus on finding kidney disease earlier, slowing its progression, expanding patient choice, increasing transplantation, and accelerating innovation. These are priorities NKF has championed for years because patients benefit most when we intervene before kidney disease becomes kidney failure.
We are particularly encouraged by recommendations to examine screening for people at increased risk, develop payment models that reward prevention, strengthen living kidney donation and the National Living Donor Assistance Center, continue implementation of the HOLD Act and modernization of the organ transplant system, and advance research and scientifically validated pathways that can bring new treatments to patients sooner.
This plan provides an important roadmap. As HHS moves from recommendations to policy, NKF looks forward to working with the Administration, Congress and the kidney community to ensure patients remain at the center—and to build a kidney care system focused not simply on managing kidney failure, but on preventing it whenever possible.”
About the HHS Kidney Care National Plan
The HHS Kidney Care National Plan outlines federal policy directions intended to prevent kidney failure, expand patient choice, increase transplantation, and accelerate innovation. The plan builds on the 2019 Advancing American Kidney Health initiative and includes recommendations to:
- Improve early detection and prevention by examining kidney disease screening for people at increased risk and exploring payment models that incentivize earlier diagnosis, treatment, and slower disease progression.
- Expand patient choice in dialysis care by examining regulatory barriers and alternative settings for dialysis services, including approaches that could support greater access to home dialysis.
- Strengthen transplantation and living donation through continued OPTN modernization, stronger accountability and patient-safety oversight, expanded support through the National Living Donor Assistance Center, and continued implementation of the HOLD Act.
- Advance kidney research and innovation by supporting new treatments and technologies and exploring scientifically validated surrogate endpoints that could help promising therapies reach patients sooner while maintaining standards for safety and effectiveness.
- Increase competition and accountability in kidney care by examining regulatory barriers to new dialysis providers and technologies and reviewing practices HHS believes may limit competition or increase costs.
The plan establishes policy direction rather than new requirements. Most recommendations call for further review, evaluation or policy development and do not establish new payment rates, coverage requirements, funding commitments or implementation deadlines.
About Kidney Disease
In the United States, more than 37 million adults are estimated to have kidney disease, also known as chronic kidney disease (CKD)—and approximately 90 percent don’t know they have it. About 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. are at risk for kidney disease. Risk factors for kidney disease include: diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and family history. People of Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian American, or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander descent are at increased risk for developing the disease. Black or African American people are about four times as likely as White people to have kidney failure. Hispanics experience kidney failure at about double the rate of White people.
About the National Kidney Foundation
The National Kidney Foundation is revolutionizing the fight to save lives by eliminating preventable kidney disease, accelerating innovation for the dignity of the patient experience, and dismantling structural inequities in kidney care, dialysis, and transplantation. For more information about kidney disease, please visit www.kidney.org.
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Media Contact:
Paul McGee - National Kidney Foundation
Phone: 716.523.6874 Email: paul.mcgee@kidney.org