Territory Kidney Care: a clinical decision support system to facilitate integrated care for people with CKD in the NT
Background:
Territory Kidney Care (TKC) is an innovative clinical information system that uses powerful analytics to assist with the early identification and best-practice management of kidney disease. Menzies developed TKC in partnership with the NT Department of Health, the peak Aboriginal health representative body (AMSANT) and local Aboriginal community-controlled health services. TKC utilises a service orientated architecture that connects to existing health platforms, automatically and securely transferring clinical information of select patients based on agreed criteria. Algorithms applied to the consolidated records stratify patients according to risk and CKD stage, enter patients into surveillance loops and initiate triggers to alert the tertiary clinical support team of actions required. TKC enhances health care through the integration of clinical information systems and the implementation of evidence-based protocols.
Based on published literature TKC is the only system worldwide that can seamlessly consolidate primary and tertiary care information and derive clinically relevant summaries based on dynamic algorithm-based phenotyping. TKC undertook an iterative and incremental design process in partnership with stakeholder health services and clinicians to ensure the system was built ‘fit for purpose’.
Objectives:
Integrated systems of care which focus on prevention and care coordination, can slow the progression of kidney disease and reduce complications of inter-related illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The TKC clinical support system facilitates integrated care through:
- Combining clinical information from multiple systems to provide a complete patient picture
- Improved surveillance and identification of CKD and earlier intervention
- Appropriate referrals and reduction in remote community travel
- Supporting GPs adherence to evidence-based care
- Creating efficiencies in service provision
- A platform for health services innovation
- More robust and timely data for:
- Quality Assurance
- Service planning
- Resource advocacy
Summary:
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a common and serious health problem in Australia. CKD refers to all kidney conditions where a person has kidney damage and/or reduced kidney function. People with CKD suffer poor health outcomes, reduced life expectancy and reduced quality of life. The burden of CKD is particularly heavy amongst Indigenous Australians and in the NT the rates of kidney disease are the highest in Australia. More than 2 in 5 Aboriginal adults in remote NT communities show evidence of having CKD. Many people do not know they have CKD as up to 90% of kidney function can be lost before symptoms are evident. Additionally, chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, although occurring more frequently in Aboriginal people, may not be fully recognised as risk factors for CKD. CKD is an under-diagnosed condition.
Demand for dialysis treatment and the associated expenditure has increased relentlessly over recent decades in the NT and has surpassed all projections. Measures to address the high rates of chronic kidney disease and provide earlier intervention to delay or avoid the need for dialysis are urgently needed.
Territory Kidney Care is an integrated clinical information system that provides a means to facilitate earlier and targeted patient care without increasing the resource burden on staff.
Implications for policy and practice:
In the NT, where the Aboriginal population is highly mobile and often access multiple community and hospital-based services, there are significant challenges to the provision of optimal integrated care. Patients with a high risk of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD) are slipping through “the cracks” in our health system.
The effective integration of disparate health care systems is crucial in the “new normal” post-COVID19 era. The NT experienced very different challenges in the delivery of health care during the pandemic, compared to other jurisdictions. Remote communities were declared biosecurity zones and travel by clinical staff and patients to and from the communities was severely restricted. Virtual health care became a necessity. However effective virtual health care relies on access to complete patient information and clinicians are often required to work with diverse interfaces to obtain the data they need; often this information is incomplete.
TKC, adds an immense contribution to virtual healthcare, telehealth and integrated care and will be core to our ability to sustain effective care for people with complex chronic conditions as we transition to post-COVID models of care. TKC has the potential to transform care delivery and provide consumer-centric, affordable, accessible and high-quality health care.
Our research has found:
Our work with tertiary and primary health services has found that a substantial proportion of people at risk of CKD are not regularly screened and that a number of people with advanced CKD do not have a correct diagnosis and are therefore not receiving evidence-based care.
However there is strong evidence which suggests that patients who have intense monitoring, follow-up and treatment according to evidence-based protocols have better health outcomes, reduced health service utilisation and make timely and more informed choices about treatment options. Additionally, there is extensive evidence on strategies to facilitate the earlier identification of people with CKD which include monitoring, surveillance and the regular screening of people with hypertension, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Importantly, the provision of care to people by people that know them and their family the best - the community health service- is key to increasing and maintaining patient engagement and this requires support for GP in the management of people with complex conditions.
Chief Investigator:
Project contact:
Project start date:
Early 2017
Access
The Territory Kidney Care (TKC) database is only available to clinical staff who are providing care to Renal patients and you must have a NTG LAN ID to be able to access the system at https://territorykidneycare/.
To gain access to the Territory Kidney Care System, please contact Paul Kamler.
Participation
Participation in TKC for non-government health services is voluntary. Participation is formalised through execution of the TKC Participation Agreement, which outlines the working relationship between the partners and the data security, data management, access and privacy protocols. The following links are provided for your information.
A staged roll-out of TKC across the Territory is planned for 2020 to ensure the level of data integrity required for the type of clinical decision support TKC provides is maintained, and to allow the TKC Project Team to support newly participant Health Services to enact their implementation plans. To assist Health Services to identify and work through activities to support successful implementation on TKC an Implementation Plan Template has been developed.
For more information on how your health service can participate in TKC, or to arrange a presentation / information session for key stakeholders at your health service please contact Paul Kamler.
Lastest update:
Earlier updates:
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Territory Kidney Care | Newsletter June 2022
- 726 kB
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Territory Kidney Care Progress Report July 2021 – February 2022
- 1.37 MB
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Territory Kidney Care | Newsletter December 2021
- 430 kB
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Territory Kidney Care | Progress Report January - June 2021
- 469 kB
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Territory Kidney Care | Newsletter July 2021
- 1.43 MB
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Territory Kidney Care Newsletter March 2021
- 244 kB
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Territory Kidney Care | Progress Report October 2020 - February 2021
- 1.55 MB
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Territory Kidney Care | FAQs
- 628 kB
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Territory Kidney Care | Progress Report April - September 2020
- 604 kB
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Territory Kidney Care | Progress Report - February 2020
- 292 kB
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Territory Kidney Care | Newsletter June 2019
- 357 kB
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Territory Kidney Care | Presentation - Summary of Discussion Points and Next Steps - May 2019
- 339 kB
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Territory Kidney Care | Progress Report - April 2019
- 995 kB
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Territory Kidney Care | Newsletter December 2018
- 476 kB
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Clinical Reference Group Workshop Feedback Summary Report | December 2018
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Territory Kidney Care | Progress Report November 2018
- 1 MB
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Project newsletter | August 2018
- 360 kB
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Project newsletter | June 2018
- 412 kB
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TKC Meeting Summary Paper | March 2018
- 257 kB
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Project newsletter | February 2018
- 340 kB
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Project newsletter | December 2017
- 437 kB
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Project newsletter | October 2017
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Project newsletter | August 2017
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Workshop Summary Paper | 1 August 2017
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Project newsletter | June 2017
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Funders:
- Philanthropic
Collaborators:
- NT Renal Services
- Department of Health
- Miwatj Health Service
- Congress Aboriginal Health Service
- Aboriginal Medical Service Alliance NT
- NT Primary Health Network
- Katherine West Health Board
- Mala’la Health Service Aboriginal Corporation
- Ampilatwatja Health Care Aboriginal Corporation
- Wurli Wurlijang Health Service
- Laynhapuy Homelands Aboriginal Corporation
- Purple House
- Department of Corporate and Digital Development
- AMSANT
- Territory Kidney Care Health Service information sheet
- Territory Kidney Care - Change on a page
- Territory Kidney Care - Frequently Asked Questions
- Executive Steering Committee Terms of Reference
- Clinical Risk Management Plan
- Patient Linking Risk Benefit and Clinical Risk Safety Report
- Evaluation Framework
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Territory Kidney Care: integrated chronic disease support in the NT
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Project newsletter | June 2019
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The Health Advocate Episode 11 - Renal Patients in Remote Communities
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Project Newsletter | December 2018
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Territory Kidney Care | Progress Report November 2018
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Project Newsletter | October 2018
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Win for dialysis patients in Northern Territory
THE Territory’s kidney disease sufferers will be the major beneficiaries of a new Medicare item to be announced by the Turnbull Government today.