*Purpose: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many hospitals suspended in person evaluations of kidney transplants during the March-April time period of 2020. State and local agencies accelerated approval for video virtual visits and retroactively approved for reimbursement parity with in person visits.The transplant center at Atrium Health (AH) moved quickly to a virtual platform to move patients along the kidney evaluation process. Providers used the doxy.me platform, and phone visits. The purpose of this QA project is to track access to transplant listing during a global pandemic.

*Methods: Beginning on March 3rd, the transplant center at AH began a phased shut down (allowing emergency visits and surgeries only) in response to COVID-19. The re-entry process began in April and was in full effect beginning June 1 and continues in November. The “Covid Safe” kidney evaluation went from a 100% on site evaluation process to a hybrid process to include: virtual teaching, virtual nephrology visits, virtual financial and social worker. The on site component remained for surgical evaluations, and for those patients unable to complete the virtual platform.Evaluation and listing numbers are tracked as part of the ongoing QA process. We look to compare volumes from June-Aug 2019 vs. June-Aug 2020.

*Results:

In a short fashion, the transplant clinic was able to list patients evaluated on a virtual platform.

*Conclusions: Kidney transplant evaluation can be performed in a hybrid fashion. During the COVID-19 pandemic we were able to continue to evaluate and list patients. We did see a delay in listing time, most likely due to the transition period required for teaching and appointment scheduling. Further follow up will focus on patient safety and outcomes, transplant rates, and patient satisfaction.

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