Sioux Falls, SD (June 16, 2025) — The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and Sanford Health have been honored with the UNIVANTS of Healthcare Excellence “Team of Achievement” Award for their joint efforts to measurably improve health care for people at risk of or living with chronic kidney disease (CKD).
The award recognizes a successful collaboration to improve CKD testing, diagnosis and treatment among people with diabetes across Sanford Health, the nation’s largest rural health system. Within the first 10 months of implementing new system-wide protocols, Sanford Health saw significant results:
- The percentage of patients with diabetes receiving guideline-recommended CKD testing rose from 38% to 70%.
- Diagnosis of CKD in patients with lab-confirmed evidence increased from 20% to 73%.
- Use of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i)—a medication that slows CKD progression—jumped from under 2% to 9.6%.
“Sanford Health is honored to receive this recognition from UNIVANTS of Healthcare Excellence,” said Christina Lankhorst, M.D., Sanford Health. “Making a real difference in the lives of patients battling chronic kidney disease takes a team – and our dedicated staff and caregivers have been blessed to collaborate with the incredible group at the National Kidney Foundation which has led to breakthroughs in early diagnoses, improvements in quality of life and an increases in access to care.”
“CKD is largely undiagnosed, contributing to too many people learning they have it only when it’s advanced and harder to treat. That’s why partnerships, like this, with Sanford Health are so powerful—they show what’s possible when we work together to close gaps in care,” said Kevin Longino, CEO of the National Kidney Foundation and a kidney transplant recipient. “UNIVANTS’ recognition validates the impact of NKF’s CKDintercept initiative to transform how kidney disease is detected and managed in primary care. By combining clinical innovation with system-wide implementation, we’re helping more patients get diagnosed earlier and saving lives.”
CKD is a common but underdiagnosed complication of diabetes that significantly increases cardiovascular risk. Initial assessments at Sanford Health found low rates of urine albumin-creatinine ratio (uACR) testing among the more than 135,000 patients at risk for CKD—limiting early identification and intervention.
To address these gaps, a multi-disciplinary team from Sanford Health—spanning primary care, laboratory medicine, data analytics and operations—worked alongside NKF Population Health to implement key strategies from the NKF CKD Change Package, part of the NKF CKDintercept initiative. These included:
- Adding CKD screening (serum creatinine with eGFR and urine ACR) to clinical workflows
- Updating electronic health record (EHR) SmartSets and health maintenance menus
- Embedding educational tools and resources directly in the EHR
- Launching CME-accredited webinars to engage and educate clinicians
CKDintercept is a groundbreaking initiative to improve CKD testing, recognition, and management in primary care. To learn more about CKDintercept and the NKF CKD Change Package, visit www.kidney.org/professionals/ckdintercept/ckd-change-package. Organizations interested in implementing similar strategies can contact population.health@kidney.org.
The UNIVANTS of Healthcare Excellence Award, founded by Abbott in partnership with global healthcare organizations, recognizes interdisciplinary teams that have measurably improved patient care. UNIVANTS stands for "unity" and "avant-garde," highlighting the power of forward-thinking collaboration.
About Kidney Disease
In the United States, more than 35 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 NKF, visit www.kidney.org.
About Sanford Health
Sanford Health, the largest rural health system in the United States, is dedicated to transforming the health care experience and providing access to world-class health care in America’s heartland. Headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the organization has 53,000 employees and serves over 2 million patients and nearly 425,000 health plan members across the upper Midwest including South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, Iowa, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The integrated nonprofit health system includes a network of 56 hospitals, 288 clinic locations, 147 senior care communities, 4,000 physicians and advanced practice providers and nearly 1,500 active clinical trials and studies. The organization’s transformational virtual care initiative brings patients closer to care with access to 78 specialties. Learn more about Sanford Health’s commitment to shaping the future of rural health care across the lifespan at sanfordhealth.org or Sanford Health News.
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Media Contact:
Paul McGee
716.523.6874
paul.mcgee@kidney.org