Web sites,
Institute: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

Nephrologists have a new tool to help communication with patients' primary care physicians. The tool, an online Consult Letter Template, was developed by the Renal Physicians Association and NIDDK's National Kidney Disease Education Program.

With drop down menus and check boxes, nephrologists can efficiently delineate areas of care and quickly generate a consult letter to send to their patients' primary care physicians. The letter template largely uses the KDOQI classification developed by the National Kidney Foundation. The letter created can be saved locally onto a hard drive or printed out on the nephrologist´s letterhead. It can be sent electronically or mailed to the primary care provider. Any patient information entered into the template is not stored nor saved on the Web sites containing the template.

Next Steps
To access this tool, visit www.nkdep.nih.gov/consult.htm or www.renalmd.org.