About one in three American adults are at risk for chronic kidney disease (CKD), with nearly 37 million adults already affected by the condition. Unfortunately, due to care gaps and lack of testing, about 90% of them don’t know they have it, which can cause more harm as CKD progresses and becomes costly to both patients and their health plans.
Treatment of CKD costs Medicare over $124 billion annually. The final stages of the disease, entailing kidney transplant or dialysis, are particularly expensive. An albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR) urine test can detect kidney damage and provide an early indication of CKD. It’s also an independent risk factor for heart attack and stroke. Yet despite clinical guidance, only about 20% of at-risk populations do an annual test.
Minuteful Kidney is the first and only FDA-cleared, smartphone-powered kidney test that allows people to test their kidney function from the privacy of home, driving test completion rates up to 50%. Home-based testing can help detect CKD early by engaging untested populations and removing barriers associated with traditional lab testing.