Nephrology Visits and Health Care Resource Use Before and After Reporting Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate

CONTEXT Laboratory reporting of estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) has been widely implemented, with limited evaluation. OBJECTIVE To examine trends in nephrologist visits and health care resource use before and after estimated GFR reporting. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS Community-based cohort study (N = 1 135 968) with time-series analysis. Participants were identified from a laboratory registry in Alberta, Canada, and followed up from May 15, 2003, to March 14, 2007 (with estimated GFR reporting implemented October 15, 2004). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Nephrologist visits and patient management. RESULTS Following estimated GFR reporting, the rate of first outpatient visits to a nephrologist for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD; estimated GFR