OBJECTIVES: Three quarters of patients with CKD and anemia are not treated with ESP prior to End Stage Renal Disease. The capacity to provide anemia treatment in nephrology practices may be a hindrance to early initiation of treatment in these patients. METHODS: A decision tree was developed, simulating annual time savings associated with ESP administration when weekly (QW) administration is transitioned to less frequent administration. Parameter estimates were derived from a cross-sectional observational study assessing time utilized to administer ESP injections to CKD anemic patients. The model has two arms, simulating treatment over a one year period; arm “A” of the model has four transition states which represent the frequency of ESP administration (QW, Q2W (every two weeks), QM (monthly), and ‘QW only'). In arm “A” 100% of the patients start on a QW regimen. The ‘QW only' state simulates those patients whose hemoglobin cannot be stabilized on extended dosing and fail transition to extended dosing. Arm “B” has only one state, QW. RESULTS: At the end of the simulated year, estimated ESP administration time was 263 minutes per patient per year in arm “A” (QM) vs. 467 minutes in arm “B” (QW). The difference in time between arm “B” and “A” results in 3.4 hours less for arm “A”. In arm “A” 79% of patients were in the Q4W state, 9% in Q2W, and 12% in QW and QW only. On average, it took 3 - 4 months to extend the patient to QM. CONCLUSION: The results of the model suggest that a nephrology clinic could save, on average, 3.4 hours per patient during the first year by transitioning to less frequent ESP administration. Greater savings may be realized once the transition has been completed, possibly providing increased capacity for treatment of additional patients with CKD and anemia.