West Virginia University School of Medicine Department of Medicine Section of Nephrology
Rural Nephrology: Expanding Medical Opportunity by Outreach
In rural America and particularly West Virginia, where kidney disease is highly prevalent and specialty physicians are not, outreach is a key component of medical opportunity for many patients. Optimizing access to care, both a challenge and a priority, has formed the cornerstone of our vision as practicing nephrologists in the Section of Nephrology at the West Virginia University School of Medicine. In our quest to meet the needs of the many West Virginians who live distant to medical care, we formed the Rural Nephrology Initiative which began with one on-campus clinic and two outpatient dialysis units. Since 2003, this initiative has grown into 12 outreach clinics and nine dialysis units in northcentral West Virginia. In May of 2016, the 50,000th outreach patient visit mark was reached, an achievement which translates to more than 6 million miles saved in driving for patients from more than 30 West Virginia counties. Meanwhile, the Section has grown in number from 4 to 11 faculty and 0 to 9 advanced practitioners through whose collective effort and dedication increasing numbers of West Virginians continue to be reached for kidney disease care and the chance to optimize their medical outcomes.