Latanya Weston, a metro Atlanta-based nurse practitioner, believes that individualized, whole person care is the approach to take to increase equity in kidney care. For Weston, the matter is personal. She witnessed the devastating effects of kidney disease at 15, when her sister died at 33 from the sickness and two of her siblings are currently on dialysis.
Influenced by her experiences, Weston has devoted her work as a health care provider to helping to eliminate kidney disease disparities. During her time as a surgical technologist in South Georgia, Weston remembers most of the amputations and dialysis catheters that she worked on were for Black patients.
“I wanted to be part of solving the problem,” Weston said. “I know I can’t save everyone, but I knew there was something I could do.”
She decided to go back to school to become a nurse practitioner. By doing so, she could take a more direct role in educating patients about preventative measures that they can take to avoid amputations and dialysis catheters.
In Georgia, kidney disease is the ninth leading cause of death. According to the National Kidney Foundation, Black Americans are four times more likely than white people to develop kidney failure, and Hispanic patients are 1.3 times more likely than non-Hispanics to develop kidney failure. Barriers to accessing care, including receiving kidney transplants, are a major reason for these inequities.
Credit: Christina Matacotta
Credit: Christina Matacotta
Weston works with Somatus, a company that partners with doctors to provide whole-person care for patients with kidney disease. The company is based in McLean, Va. and reaches 34 states, with more than 1,350 employees. The healthcare delivery model that Somatus uses pays providers based on patient health outcomes.
In 2021, 6.74% of revenue in primary care specialties came from care delivered this way, according to a report released by the Medical Group Medical Association. The model makes up a small percentage of overall medical revenue, but its potential for growth has been recognized. A report released on December 16 by McKinsey & Company said that investment in the model “quadrupled during the pandemic”.
“When we go into homes, we’re one on one with them. We’re able to look around and see things that we may not be able to see in the doctor’s office,” she noted.
Weston explained that patients are more comfortable and open in their home environments. As a provider, she is able to spend time with them to tend to their health needs. She goes through food cabinets, reads food labels and checks to ensure that patients have proper medical devices, such as blood pressure cuffs.
“We want to make sure our patients aren’t spending time in the hospital,” she noted. “That’s our number one goal.”
Weston says their focus is the quality of care and prevention. By taking this approach, she says that she is able to address other diseases and illnesses that patients have, such as diabetes and congestive heart failure.
“Many of our patients lack the resources that they need in order to have the best health that they can. We’re fixing these gaps and we’re helping patients,” said Dr. Ikenna Okezie, co-founder and chief executive officer of Somatus.
Okezie says that Somatus is doing so by taking a holistic approach to patient care, “rather than thinking only about volume and fees.”
Weston went on to explain that she has found that many Black and Hispanic communities are missing primary care centers, facilities where patients go for regular check-ups, and transportation can become a barrier to accessing care.
Personally, she has traveled from the metro area to places such as Macon and Dublin to care for patients.
“We reach them,” she said. “No matter what, we try to get to them.”
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