HealthShare and AstraZeneca partner to encourage screening for chronic kidney disease

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a major health concern in Australia, affecting an estimated 1.7 million Australians, or approximately 10% of the population.

Australian digital health company HealthShare and AstraZeneca have announced an innovative partnership to screen patients at risk of CKD.

In the first two months over 13,000 patients have been identified as being at risk of CKD. This program is a great example of how technology can be used to support preventative health measures, streamline relevant clinical guidelines to GPs and ultimately improve patient health outcomes.

HealthShare and AstraZeneca’s partnership highlights the importance of collaboration between healthcare stakeholders, using a robust evidence-based framework to support an enhanced patient-GP interaction.

What is CKD?

CKD is a long-term condition where the kidneys lose their ability to filter waste products from the blood, leading to a build-up of toxins in the body.

CKD can be a silent disease, meaning that it often goes undiagnosed until the later stages when significant damage has already been done.

Early detection and intervention can slow down the progression of the disease, reduce the risk of complications and improve patients’ quality of life.

How does it work?

HealthShare’s BetterConsult product is a pre-consultation clinical questionnaire that patients fill out before seeing their GP. It helps the GP better understand the patient’s reasons for visit and allows them to spend more time on treatment and management of their patient’s health concerns. The CKD initiative, reviewed and approved by an independent GP clinical panel, uses the BetterConsult questionnaire to identify cohorts of patients who are more at risk of the disease. GPs are then provided with recommendations on how to screen these at-risk patients based on local Australian clinical guidelines.

BetterConsult has also built in a post-consultation patient SMS pathway, which provides relevant patients with the ability to learn more about the importance of a kidney health check.

Director of Biopharmaceuticals at AstraZeneca, Martin Haigh, said early detection and diagnosis of chronic kidney disease provides more treatment options for patients.

“I am proud that AstraZeneca is able to partner with HealthShare to provide patients with a tool to improve engagement with their GP.

“AstraZeneca will continue to support innovation in healthcare to improve health outcomes,” Mr Haigh said.

HealthShare’s Co-Founder, Rami Weiss, said the CKD initiative was a perfect example of utilising digital technology to optimise the patient-GP interaction.

“We know how busy GPs are so it is critical that our products help to save them time, reduce their admin burden and allow them to spend more time providing quality clinical care to their patients.

“We are excited about the AstraZeneca partnership because we share a mutual goal of supporting GPs with best-practice clinical guidelines and improving patient health literacy. Our BetterConsult product is unique in the Australian market as it allows us to engage both the patient and the GP and deliver the right information at the right time to ultimately improve patient health outcomes,” Mr Weiss said.

References:

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2020 https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/chronic-kidney-disease/chronic-kidney-disease

HealthShare Digital, 2023 https://www.healthsharedigital.com/solutions/betterconsult/

Kidney Health Australia, 2020 “Risk factors of kidney disease” https://kidney.org.au/your-kidneys/know-your-kidneys/know-the-risk-factors

Kidney Health Australia, 2020 “CKD Management handbook” https://kidney.org.au/your-kidneys/know-your-kidneys/know-the-risk-factors