SEKTC

Transplant Referral Exchange (T-REX)

2021 – present

Description

The Transplant Referral Exchange is a partnership with Apex Health Innovations (AHI) to develop an electronic transplant referral application. The application is multi-module, web-enabled software focusing on the collection and management of ESRD patient information. For both transplant centers and dialysis facilities, T-REX is designed to enhance communication between clinical staff so that patients can seamlessly proceed through the many steps necessary to receive a transplant. T-REX can instantly notify the dialysis facilities that the referral has been received and can update facilities when an evaluation appointment has been scheduled. This allows dialysis facility staff (e.g., social workers) to remind their patients of their upcoming appointments, and check-in with them after the evaluation to see if there are any outstanding requirements that the facility can assist the patient with completing. In the dialysis facility setting, the novel software allows staff to electronically refer their patients for transplant evaluation to participating transplant centers using transplant center-specific referral forms. Staff may also use the software to electronically track their ESRD patients throughout the transplant process, including tracking which educational materials are administered to patients. On the transplant center side, the software enables staff to accept electronic referrals from participating dialysis facilities, manage patient waitlist activities, and facilitate center-specific living-donor matching capability. 

T-REX’s effect on rates of transplant referral and evaluation is being assessed with a focus on groups with documented disparate access, as well as its usability, acceptability, and sustainability among dialysis and transplant center staff users. This data will be used to inform a future national scale-up of T-REX with an end-goal of increasing equity in access to kidney transplant nationwide.