Escambia County, Fla. recently scored well above the state of Florida’s average for functioning arteriovenous fistula (AVF) rates, a key indicator in the care of patients with chronic kidney failure. Escambia County achieved a rate of more than 60 percent, which is well above the state’s level of 43.1 percent.

Much of Escambia County’s success can be contributed to the work of vascular surgeon Dr. Fernando Kafie, a member of the Sacred Heart Hospital medical staff. Because of his exceptional AVF placement rate, Dr. Kafie was recently named a Fistula First Champion Surgeon by Florida’s Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (FMQIO) and the End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Network of Florida.

According to the Florida Hospital Association, a key factor in reducing the morbidity, mortality and cost for patients with chronic kidney disease is a patient’s ability to receive dialysis, known as vascular access.

During dialysis, blood is removed from the body, filtered through a dialysis machine and then returned to the body. Dialysis patients need surgery to create a vascular access site through which blood can be removed and returned. The preferred type of surgically created blood vessel, called a fistula, is created when an artery and vein in the arm are surgically connected to make a stronger, bigger vessel. The stronger vein can then receive the needles used for dialysis.  

AVFs are considered the “gold standard” by the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services for establishing access to a patient’s circulatory system to provide dialysis. It has been proven that AVFs last longer, need less rework, and are associated with lower rates of infections, hospitalizations and deaths than other types of access, including grafts and central venous dialysis catheters.

As a healthcare quality improvement organization, FMQIO works with providers in hospitals, physician offices, nursing homes, and many other provider settings to implement projects focused on improving the care provided to over three million Medicare beneficiaries in Florida. As an organization they help identify individual physicians with outstanding surgical results. FMQIO’s mission is to ensure the quality, effectiveness, efficiency, and economy of health care services provided to Medicare beneficiaries.

For more information on vascular services at Sacred Heart, please call (850) 416-1600 or visit www.sacred-heart.org.

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