Hannah Bracamonte, Author at Dialysis Patient Citizens

Comments to CMS re: Request for Information on Insurance Steering

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:28+00:00September 20th, 2016|Categories: Charitable Premium Assistance, Comment Letter, Innovation|

Andrew Slavitt, Acting Administrator Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Department of Health and Human Services Hubert H. Humphrey Building 200 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, D.C. 20201 Re: CMS-6074-NC: “Request for Information: Inappropriate Steering of Individuals Eligible for or Receiving Medicare and Medicaid Benefits” Dear Mr. Slavitt: Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) responds herein to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) with comments on the above referenced Request for Information. As America’s largest patient-led organization representing dialysis patients, DPC’s membership consists of more than 28,000 dialysis and pre-dialysis patients and their families. We seek to ensure the patient point [...]

Dialysis Patient Act Reported Favorably out of the House Ways & Means Committee

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:28+00:00September 9th, 2016|Categories: Article, Care Coordination|

In a health subcommittee hearing on September 8, the House Ways & Means Committee reported the Dialysis Patient Act (H.R. 5942) favorably out of committee. This, along with the ESRD Choice Act (H.R 5659), now have the opportunity to reach the House floor for a vote. In the most recent issue of The Kidney Citizen, personalized postcards were included for you to mail to our office to deliver to your legislators on the Dialysis Patient Act. Please take a moment to sign your name, and drop those postcards in the mail for us to pass along on your behalf.

Charitable Assistance: The New ‘Pre-Existing Condition’

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:28+00:00September 1st, 2016|Categories: Charitable Premium Assistance, Press|

CMS-1651-P, Prospective Payment System and QIP

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:28+00:00August 23rd, 2016|Categories: Comment Letter, Quality Incentive Program|

Andrew Slavitt, Acting Administrator Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Department of Health and Human Services Hubert H. Humphrey Building 200 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, D.C. 20201 Re: CMS-1651-P: End-Stage Renal Disease Prospective Payment System, Quality Incentive Program Dear Mr. Slavitt: Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) appreciates the opportunity to provide the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) with comments on the proposed payment rule for the Medicare End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) program. As America’s largest patient-led organization representing dialysis patients, DPC’s membership consists of more than 28,000 dialysis and pre-dialysis patients and their families. We seek to ensure [...]

DPC Responds to CMS’ Request for Information

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:28+00:00August 19th, 2016|Categories: Advance Patient Choice, Article, Charitable Premium Assistance|Tags: Health Insurance Exchange|

If anyone doesn’t know why the public is fed-up with our government, all they need to do is look at yesterday’s RFI on third party payment, which can best be summarized as “politics as usual” and big insurance dictating its own agenda. The former CMS Administrator – who is now the nation’s leading lobbyist for the insurance industry – appears to be getting the Agency to prioritize her new employer’s desires over the needs of the nation’s most vulnerable patients. To put even more pressure on the Obama Administration, Aetna just threatened to pull out of even more health insurance exchanges if it doesn’t get [...]

Did Payment Reform Affect Patient Modality Choice?

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:28+00:00August 11th, 2016|Categories: Dialysis Funding, Improve Access to Care, Medicare Advantage, Treatment Options|

One of the main policy goals of Dialysis Patient Citizens is to Improve Access to Care. This tenet includes improving patient access to all dialysis modalities: home hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, in-center hemodialysis and transplantation. Through our annual membership survey, we’ve uncovered various barriers for patients who would like to receive home hemodialysis. Many patients are unable to receive treatments in their home because of a lack of a caregiver, which is a requirement to receive treatment. However, DPC has also uncovered that the type of insurance a patient has may affect the likelihood of whether they are informed of home dialysis [...]

ESRD Choice Act Moves out of Committee with Unanimous Support

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:28+00:00August 11th, 2016|Categories: Advance Patient Choice, Care Coordination, Medicare Advantage|

Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) hailed the introduction of H.R. 5659 as the latest in a series of milestones toward opening Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. With bi-partisan introduction by Reps. Jason Smith (R-MO), John Lewis (D-GA), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Kurt Schrader (D-OR) and Tom Marino (R-PA), this legislation is a momentous step forward to providing dialysis patients increased access to insurance. “As a dialysis patient of 5 years, I am fortunate to have secondary insurance to cover what Medicare does not, however I know many patients in my facility don’t have that luxury. Providing dialysis patients access [...]

DPC Complaint to OFM re: Washington State Insurance Plans
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DPC Complaint to OFM re: Washington State Insurance Plans

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:28+00:00July 19th, 2016|Categories: Charitable Premium Assistance, Comment Letter, Innovation, Private Insurance Coverage, State Advocacy|

Re: Violations of the Medicare Secondary Payer Statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1395y(b), by Washington State Health Insurance Plans Dear Ms. Parker and Ms. Dotzel: We write to bring to your attention the fact that at least three group insurers in the state of Washington are offering large plans with provisions that violate the explicit terms of the Medicare Secondary Payer Statute. These violations not only potentially subject the insurers to statutory civil monetary penalties, but render these insurers’ plans nonconforming under applicable regulations. As America's largest patient-led organization representing 29,000 dialysis patients and family members, Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) strives to [...]

CMS Proposes Payment Updates for ESRD and New Policies for Quality Incentive Program (QIP)

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:29+00:00July 4th, 2016|Categories: Article, Quality Incentive Program|

Each year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issue proposed rules to update payment rates under the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System (PPS) for renal dialysis services for the following year. On June 24, 2016, CMS proposed updates to the PPS as well as new quality measures for 2017. Notably, CMS proposed an increase to the base rate paid to dialysis facilities of $0.65 in addition to proposing increasing the home and self-dialysis training payment. In regards to quality measures, CMS proposes the inclusion of a new “Safety Measure Domain” category for 2019, which would provide data on dialysis-events including [...]

New Legislation Introduced to Improve Dialysis Patient Care

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:29+00:00July 3rd, 2016|Categories: Advance Patient Choice, Care Coordination|

The Dialysis PATIENT Act (Patient Access To Integrated care, Empowerment, Nephrologists, and Treatment), S. 3090, recently introduced by Senators Heller (R-NV) and Nelson (D-FL). It follows introduction of the House version (H.R. 5506) the previous week by Reps. Young (R-IN), Blumenauer (D-OR), McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Cardenas (D-CA). The Dialysis PATIENT Act would permit dialysis organizations to accept capitated payments to cover all of an ESRD patient's Medicare expenditures in return for coordinating care for their renal disease and other comorbidities. The program would be voluntary for patients and provide access to an expanded clinical team that would “quarterback” their care. [...]

About Hannah Bracamonte

Dialysis Patient Citizens

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