Fresenius Medical Care further enhances clinical care through continuous digital quality improvement

Fresenius Medical Care, the world’s leading provider of products and services for individuals with renal diseases, has conducted a study examining the effectiveness of the “Medical Patient Review continuous quality improvement” (MPR-CQI) program in 20 countries of the region Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The study has demonstrated, by means of mediation analysis, that improvements in medical key performance indicators (KPIs), occurring after the MPR-CQI program implementation, was associated with a significant reduction in mortality risk of about 30 percent in study participants. 

For the development of the MPR-CQI program, the company used therapy data from more than 70,000 patients treated in Fresenius Medical Care’s EMEA NephroCare network to define, monitor and improve 10 KPIs – intermediate clinical endpoints – including hemoglobin, hydration status, hemodynamic status and infusion volume. The Medical Patient Review’s monthly review circles and evaluations of patients’ health indicators allow physicians to identify, prioritize and address patient’s medical needs. 

“Delivering the highest quality care for people living with kidney disease is central to our mission, and data-driven insights are vital for ongoing clinical care improvement and innovation,” said Franklin W. Maddux, MD, Global Chief Medical Officer of Fresenius Medical Care. “The breadth and depth of our company’s clinical data, combined with our efforts in digital innovation and connected health, are generating a compelling evolution of clinical results.” 

The quality performance of Fresenius Medical Care’s clinical governance strategy has been evaluated in an historical cohort study based on the company's own EuCliD database in the EMEA region. The company has published the study results in Nephrology, Dialysis & Transplantation, the official journal of the European Renal Association/European Dialysis and Transplant Association, to make them publicly available to the professional community and support further improvements in care worldwide: https://doi.org/10.1093/ndt/gfab160

The Medical Patient Review continuous quality improvement program is based on EuCliD data – Fresenius Medical Care’s digital patient care system- and enables the company to define evaluation processes involving medical and nursing experts. It also enables a detailed analysis of patients that allows a better understanding of medical needs, while providing intensive experiences from correlating improvements in medical and economic efficiency results – to deliver feedback focused on effective and efficient care. Through its digital patient care system, Fresenius Medical Care is planning to also enable third-party clients to benefit from the MPR. 

As part of its 2025 growth strategy, Fresenius Medical Care is using digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) to develop new forms of kidney therapy. Physicians in more than 100 clinics in the company’s network can already use an AI-based algorithm that can help to improve renal anemia management while reducing drug-related costs. Fresenius Medical Care is planning to enrich the Medical Patient Review process by the MPR Advanced Benchmarking System which is based on an ensemble of 22 AI-based models that are designed to help detect best clinical practices, pinpoint high-performing centers beyond case-mix differences, discover emerging medical needs and set realistic margins of improvement for each intermediate clinical endpoint in all clinics.

The MPR Advanced Benchmarking System will be piloted starting this fall in NephroCare clinics in one EMEA country. Additional AI-based products for the management of non-dialysis dependent chronic kidney disease, vascular access care, home dialysis therapies and intradialytic complications are now being developed.