Executive Summary of ASN Kidney Health Guidance on Conservative Management in People with Kidney Failure.

KEY POINTS: Conservative management is part of the standard of care for kidney failure management. Conservative management tailors kidney care to align with individual goals and values. Conservative management involves a multidisciplinary team to provide customized CKD care, symptom management, and navigation across care transitions.

UNLABELLED: Conservative management is a holistic, whole-person model of care for people with kidney failure. A proactive, ethical treatment pathway, conservative management can help align personal goals and plan of care for people who prioritize quality of life and symptom management over potential life-prolonging therapies. The Kidney Health Guidance (KHG) on Conservative Management in People with Kidney Failure provides evidence-based clinical guidance supporting best practices in three components of the conservative management care pathway: customized CKD care to align with a person's values and goals, symptom management, and navigation of care transitions. The guidance also emphasizes the importance of shared decision-making in providing goal-concordant kidney care, engaging care partners and collaborating across disciplines. In this Executive Summary, a practical companion to the KHG, we highlight the key points of the KHG to facilitate implementation of conservative management into clinical practice.

PODCAST: This article contains a podcast at https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3//www.asn-online.org/media/podcast/JASN/2026_03_18_KTS_March2026.mp3.