Kidney Health

UCLA Health excellence in kidney care

UCLA Health’s kidney health team uses their extensive experience and advanced techniques to care for your chronic (long-term) kidney health issues. We use skilled expertise and the latest technology to preserve, and even improve, your kidney function. Our team guides you through your kidney care with specialized treatment programs at UCLA Health.

Highlights of our Kidney Health Program include:

Multispecialty care: We collaborate with all kidney programs at UCLA Health to improve our treatments and enhance your kidney function. Leading nephrologists (kidney specialists), vascular surgeons and interventional radiologists work together to provide you with world-class care.

Empowering treatment: We give you the support and treatment you need to be in charge of your own kidney health. Many patients express feelings of helplessness after receiving a diagnosis of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Our team challenges and overcomes that perception. We introduce you to treatments and lifestyle changes that to optimize your kidney function.

Advanced solutions: Our team stands at the forefront of kidney research. We use groundbreaking techniques to care for many kidney health issues. You can trust us to provide quality kidney care based on scientific evidence and medical best practices.

Coordinated care: A dedicated coordinator and interventional radiology scheduler guide you through kidney care from the start. We help you navigate, plan and understand each aspect of your care, including managing dialysis or other methods of blood filtration.

Safe, coordinated care

Our team has developed hospital-wide resources that improve your overall kidney care. These resources provide your doctors with the medical support and information they need to deliver informed, safe and coordinated treatment.

UCLA Kidney Preservation Pathway

Other conditions have symptoms similar to chronic kidney disease, meaning CKD often goes undiagnosed until it’s too late. Our specialists developed the UCLA Kidney Preservation Pathway to ensure that every patient receives superior care, every time.

The pathway provides step-by-step guidelines for your care team to follow when diagnosing and treating chronic kidney disease. The guidelines tell your doctor when to check your kidney function, which tests to perform and what the results mean. This information helps your care team identify kidney problems early on, when treatment may be most effective.

The pathway also outlines treatment plans for risk factors and complications of CKD, and when someone needs to see a kidney specialist.

We created these detailed guidelines based on national and international kidney health standards, scientific evidence and best practices. Using this resource, your doctor provides you with excellent and attentive care every step along the way.

Best Practice Alert (BPA)

We created Best Practice Alert (BPA) so that we can notify your doctors and treatment teams as soon as you receive a diagnosis of chronic kidney disease. The BPA ensures that your care teams throughout UCLA Health don’t prescribe treatment or medications that may interfere with or worsen your kidney function.

Kidney conditions we treat

We help coordinate care for the entire spectrum of kidney health, with a focus on long-term kidney conditions. With the support of our Kidney Health Program, specialists at UCLA treat kidney issues including:

• Chronic (long-term) kidney disease
• Damaged kidney filters, or glomeruli (glomerulonephritis)
• Electrolyte disorders, such as too much or too little calcium, chloride or potassium
• Kidney failure (renal failure)
• Kidney infection
• Kidney stones

Kidney treatments we offer

We work together with all kidney programs at UCLA Health to enhance your kidney function. Our experienced team and coordinated services set you up for successful treatment and recovery.

Complete dialysis care

We offer a full range of inpatient and outpatient dialysis services in our Dialysis Program, including peritoneal dialysis and in-center and at-home hemodialysis. Our surgeons expertly insert connections called fistulas and grafts. These connections create a pathway for dialysis to filter your blood. If a connection becomes narrowed or clotted, our experienced interventional radiologists restore its function.

Advanced surgery options

Our experienced surgeons perform minimally invasive urology surgery to treat kidney stones and kidney cancer. For kidney stone care, your doctor may recommend surgery to break the stones into smaller pieces. For kidney cancer, your surgeon may do a partial nephrectomy, a procedure that removes part of your kidney. We use the least invasive approach possible and specialize in robotic techniques that give our surgeons more control and precision.

Kidney transplant

Our team works closely with the UCLA Kidney Transplant Program, one of the leading kidney transplant centers in the country. The program offers world-class kidney care for even the most complex kidney diseases and end-stage renal disease. UCLA Health has a long history of outstanding survival rates for kidney transplant patients.

Support services

If you need care from other specialties, we seamlessly connect you with the right providers. We also offer nutritional and lifestyle management services to improve your overall health and prevent kidney problems, including:

• Specialized renal (kidney) dieticians
• Social workers

Dedicated outpatient center

If you experience problems while on dialysis, you can receive fast care at our Santa Monica Outpatient Center (SMOC). Our team at SMOC responds to your urgent needs so that you don’t have to go through the emergency department to receive critical procedures. We treat a variety of issues with dialysis catheters and dialysis access. 

Meet our team

Our expert team works together to provide you with comprehensive kidney care, from nephrologists and surgeons to internal medicine and transplant specialists. Our multispecialty Kidney Health Program gives you seamless access to the specialized kidney care you need.

Contact us

Call 310-206-8277 to request an appointment with a kidney health specialist at UCLA Health.