WTAS: HHS Launches Landmark National Plan to Transform Kidney Care in America

WASHINGTON, D.C.—OCTOBER 23, 2026—On Tuesday, October 20, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the Kidney Care National Plan, a coordinated department-wide strategy focused on revitalizing American kidney care.

As part of the Make America Healthy Again initiative, the new Kidney Care National Plan will address the root cause of disease and implement better treatments for Americans at every stage of kidney disease. The Plan identifies where federal action can improve kidney care across the entire spectrum of kidney disease, eliminate regulatory barriers to support innovation and a well-functioning kidney market, and deliver greater choice and superior outcomes to Americans.

Here is how government officials, medical professionals, advocates, and others are responding:

Headlines
Government Officials
Medical Professionals & Academics
Advocates & Organizations

Headlines:

• AXIOS: Exclusive: HHS releases new kidney care plan
• Fierce Healthcare: HHS launches national kidney care plan focused on disease prevention, dialysis care and reforming the transplant system
• Bloomberg Law: Trump’s HHS Targets Kidney Care Giants With Deregulatory Push
• The Hill: Trump administration launches national kidney care plan
• Quartz: HHS is pushing to open up the U.S. dialysis market with a new kidney care plan
• WDBJ: HOMETOWN HEALTH: New kidney care national plan launched this week
• Fort Worth Star Telegram: RFK Jr. visits JPS Hospital in Fort Worth to announce kidney plan
• Miami Herald: RFK Jr. in Fort Worth to announce new plan to promote kidney health
• Inside Health Policy: HHS Unveils Three-Prong National Kidney Care Plan, May Reward Prevention
• Healthcare News Center: HHS Unveils Kidney Care National Plan to Catch Disease Earlier, Open Up Dialysis and Speed Up Transplants
• Hoodline: RFK Jr. Unveils National Kidney Plan at Fort Worth's JPS, Defends Vaccine Record
• VOZ: The Trump administration unveils a national plan to expand kidney transplants and increase competition in healthcare
• American Hospital Association: HHS launches national kidney care plan
• Medical Daily: HHS Kidney Care Plan Targets Earlier Detection as 9 in 10 Adults with Kidney Disease Don't Know It

Government Officials:

• Rep. Carol Miller via X: “Thank you to @POTUS and HHS Secretary @SecKennedy for announcing a new national plan to improve kidney care through earlier detection, expanded treatment options, and greater access to lifesaving transplants! As Co-Chair of the Congressional Kidney Caucus, I look forward to working with the Administration to advance these initiatives and advocate for the millions of Americans affected by kidney disease. Every kidney patient deserves access to lifesaving care, and the opportunity to live a longer, healthier life!”

Medical Professionals & Academics:

• University of Southern California Associate Professor of nephrology medicine, Eugene Lin, via X: “Honored to be in a roundtable discussion with @HHSGov @HHS_ASPE @CMSGov on the 2026 Kidney Care National Plan. Kidney disease is the epitome of stagnant, monopolized health care from overregulation and inadequate attention to upstream, chronic disease prevention. Americans deserve better. Thank you @SecKennedy for making this a priority!”
• UCLA Fielding School of Public Health Adjunct Professor, Kam Kalantar-Zadeh, MD, MPH, PhD, via X: “MY TAKE: THE GOLDEN ERA OF KIDNEY NUTRITION HAS ARRIVED! For decades, many of us have advocated for greater emphasis on nutritional interventions, including plant-dominant dietary approaches, to preserve kidney function and delay progression to kidney failure. The new national plan represents an important policy opportunity to advance this vision. The long-awaited Golden Era of delaying the transition from advanced CKD to dialysis through diet, nutrition, and comprehensive kidney-protective care may finally be upon us. We believe the USA can lead this transformation, with the rest of the world following.”
• Jeffrey Singer, MD, general surgeon via Reason: “I like the fact that they're recognizing that a lot of regulatory…barriers are contributing to the problem, and that's refreshing to hear.”

Advocates & Organizations:

• MAHA Action via X: “RFK Jr. and HHS are taking on America’s kidney disease crisis before patients reach kidney failure. More than 37 MILLION American adults are estimated to have chronic kidney disease, and nearly 9 in 10 do not even know they have it. The new plan puts earlier detection and treatment at the center of federal kidney care. HHS also wants more competition in dialysis, tougher transplant oversight, and new incentives to treat patients sooner. Too many Americans are discovering kidney disease only after serious damage has already been done. The goal is to catch it earlier, treat it earlier, and keep more people from ever reaching dialysis.”
• American Society of Nephrology Advocacy via press release: “The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) applauds the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for once again elevating kidney care on the nation’s public health agenda. More than 37 million Americans live with kidney diseases, yet the vast majority remain undiagnosed until the late stages, highlighting a critical need for prevention, early detection, and innovative interventions. ASN commends HHS for its continued leadership and commitment to protect and improve American kidney health. Following the broad themes of prevention, competition and patient choice, and transplantation, the Kidney Care National Plan emphasizes the highest-priority challenges HHS has identified since the 2019 Executive Order and proposes numerous strategic actions to address them.  ASN is ready to collaborate with HHS and fellow kidney health stakeholders to advance the policies outlined in the Kidney Care National Plan, especially those that prioritize prevention, earlier detection and access to therapies and other interventions, transplantation, and research and development of new treatments that give patients more choices.”
• Kidney Care Partners via press release: “KCP appreciates the perspectives reflected in HHS’s 2026 Kidney Care National Plan(opens in new tab) and agrees that few health conditions demand more urgent national action than kidney disease, one of the most consequential and costly chronic illnesses in the United States. KCP shares HHS’s recognition of Medicare’s outsized role in financing care and its goal of reversing the growing prevalence of kidney disease, reducing rising healthcare costs, and improving life expectancy for kidney failure patients. KCP also agrees that federal regulatory and reimbursement barriers continue to slow progress that could meaningfully improve patients’ lives. The Plan appropriately recognizes the regulatory burdens for dialysis providers, who deliver comprehensive care to medically complex individuals within a stagnant reimbursement model that fails to reflect the true cost of care and discourages therapeutic innovation.”
• National Kidney Foundation Vice President for Government Relations, Jesse Roach, MD, via X: “For too long, America has invested far more in treating kidney failure than in preventing it. Today’s plan recognizes that we can—and must—do better. The National Kidney Foundation welcomes HHS’s focus on finding kidney disease earlier, slowing its progression, expanding patient choice, increasing transplantation, and accelerating innovation. These are priorities NKF has championed for years because patients benefit most when we intervene before kidney disease becomes kidney failure. We are particularly encouraged by recommendations to examine screening for people at increased risk, develop payment models that reward prevention, strengthen living kidney donation and the National Living Donor Assistance Center, continue implementation of the HOLD Act and modernization of the organ transplant system, and advance research and scientifically validated pathways that can bring new treatments to patients sooner. This plan provides an important roadmap. As HHS moves from recommendations to policy, NKF looks forward to working with the Administration, Congress and the kidney community to ensure patients remain at the center—and to build a kidney care system focused not simply on managing kidney failure, but on preventing it whenever possible.”
• The Wilson Center Acting Chairman, David Mansdoerfer, via X: “Big day in Fort Worth - @SecKennedy rolled out HHS's new kidney care plan at @JPS_Health. More competition in a dialysis market where two chains hold ~74%, better transplant oversight, and catching disease early. Pragmatic, free-market MAHA.”
• Renaltyx CEO, James McCullough, via X: “This Plan is one of the clearest signals yet from the US Government that the future of kidney care is prevention, and that prevention depends on knowing which patients are heading towards kidney failure while there is still time to change their course.”
• Tim Fitzpatrick, healthcare entrepreneur, investor, and writer focused on kidney and cardiometabolic health via LinkedIn: “NEWS: Big kidney policy news just dropped ahead of Kidney Week. HHS released its new Kidney Care National Plan today, outlining where the federal government wants to take kidney care next. There's a lot here. The 16-page plan spans the entire continuum from early detection and prevention to dialysis and transplantation, with a pretty clear thesis: kidney care needs more competition, more innovation, better incentives, and much greater focus upstream…Perhaps most importantly, the plan argues that the system should give providers and payers stronger financial reasons to identify kidney disease early and prevent progression, rather than waiting until Medicare assumes the enormous cost of kidney failure.”
• DaVita via press release: “DaVita shares the Administration’s urgency to accelerate progress for Americans living with kidney disease. We have worked closely with federal leaders for decades and look forward to continuing that partnership, building on what is working and moving faster where more progress is needed. Today’s introduction of the Kidney Care National Plan reflects many of DaVita’s priorities. Given that 87% of adults with chronic kidney disease do not know they have it, we agree with the need to identify kidney disease earlier, slow its progression, expand patient choice and improve coordination across the kidney care continuum…We look forward to working with the Administration to be part of the solution in turning the ambitions of this plan into meaningful progress for Americans with kidney disease.”
• Fresenius Medical Care via press release: “Fresenius Medical Care welcomes the United States Department of Health and Human Services' release of the Kidney Care National Plan and its focus on addressing the significant impact of kidney disease on patients and the nation's healthcare system. The Department's focus on incentivizing innovation, increasing access to home dialysis, simplifying the path to transplant, and advancing earlier intervention to slow the progression of kidney disease aligns closely with Fresenius Medical Care's mission to create a future worth living for patients worldwide, every day…We look forward to continuing to work with HHS and other stakeholders to advance these shared priorities and improve outcomes for people living with kidney disease.”