Care Coordination Archives - Page 7 of 8 - Dialysis Patient Citizens

Medicare Announces Revised ESRD Seamless Care Organization (ESCO) Program
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Medicare Announces Revised ESRD Seamless Care Organization (ESCO) Program

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:08:05+00:00May 5th, 2014|Categories: Article, Care Coordination|

The ESCO is based on the Accountable Care Organization model, under which providers band together to improve care and share in any savings that result from avoiding costly complications. In the case of the ESCO, the care coordination teams would consist of dialysis providers, nephrologists and any new personnel, such as nurse case managers or health coaches, brought on to assist patients. An earlier version of the ESCO, announced last year, failed to garner sufficient interest among providers. In response to input from providers and patient advocates including DPC, Medicare officials altered the terms of the program to make participation, which [...]

Patient Outcry Draws a Two-Year Reprieve From Dialysis Cuts
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Patient Outcry Draws a Two-Year Reprieve From Dialysis Cuts

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:08:08+00:00December 1st, 2013|Categories: Article, Care Coordination, Dialysis Funding, Treatment Options|

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) acknowledged patient concerns by delaying for two years its planned cut to the Medicare End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) program. The Medicare agency’s decision didn’t give dialysis patients everything we asked for, but it does mean that nearly $2 billion slated to be cut from kidney care in 2014 and 2015 will remain available to treat patients. However, it also means that patient advocates must be vigilant for any signs that access to care is shrinking as providers anticipate cuts now scheduled to take effect in 2016. The Medicare ruling came in the [...]

Extension of Florida’s Managed Medical Assistance (MMA) Waiver

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:08:08+00:00October 31st, 2013|Categories: Care Coordination, Comment Letter|

Justin Senior State Medicaid Director Agency for Health Care Administration 2727 Mahan Drive, MS #8 Tallahassee, Florida 32308 Re: Extension of Florida’s Managed Medical Assistance (MMA) Waiver (Project Number 11- W-00206/4) Dear Mr. Senior: Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) appreciates the opportunity to provide the Agency for Health Care Administration with comments on extension of the managed care waiver. As America’s largest patient-led organization representing dialysis patients, DPC’s membership consists of more than 26,000 end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and their families. We seek to ensure the patient point of view is considered by policy makers on a wide range [...]

Promoting Care Coordination for Dialysis Patients
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Promoting Care Coordination for Dialysis Patients

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:08:08+00:00October 10th, 2013|Categories: Advance Patient Choice, Article, Care Coordination|

Federal policymakers have long grappled with the problem of better coordinating care for Medicare beneficiaries. As the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has noted, "Gaps exist in care coordination in fee-for-service Medicare because of the fragmentation of service delivery, the lack of tools to help communicate across settings or providers, and the lack of a financial incentive to coordinate care." Part of the problem is that the Original, or fee-for-service, Medicare largely froze in place mainstream medical and insurance practices as they stood in 1965, when the program was created. Many health policy thought-leaders believe that the problem of uncoordinated care has been [...]

DPC Joins Kidney Community in Requesting Meeting with CMS on ESCOs

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:08:58+00:00June 26th, 2013|Categories: Care Coordination, Comment Letter, Innovation|

Dear Ms. Tavenner and Dr. Gilfillan: On behalf of the undersigned organizations, thank you for your leadership of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). Together, our organizations represent the patients, physicians, nurses, scientists, and other health professionals dedicated to advancing excellence in the care of patients with kidney disease. Foremost among our shared goals is continuous improvement in the quality, efficiency, and accessibility of care available to patients with kidney disease. Our organizations applaud the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the CMS Innovation Center’s establishment of [...]

Update: Dialysis Care Coordination Moves Forward!

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:08:59+00:00March 19th, 2013|Categories: Blog, Care Coordination, Innovation|

By Jessica N., Director of Public Affairs As I highlighted last fall, DPC has been busy working with other kidney community organizations and the federal government on a new and improved way to provide care to dialysis patients. As part of recent health care reform efforts, Medicare has been developing new ways to coordinate care for various patient groups and they just came out with their dialysis specific program! Medicare, or more specifically the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), released the official blueprint for this new program, which they have called the Comprehensive ESRD Care Initiative. The initiative is [...]

A Recent Meeting with CMMI

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:09:01+00:00September 11th, 2012|Categories: Blog, Care Coordination, Innovation, Promote Financial Security|

By Jessica N., Director of Public Affairs Hi, my name is Jessica and I am the Director of Public Affairs for Dialysis Patient Citizens. That means I create and coordinate the communications that come out of the DPC office, including the Patient Citizen that is on its way to your mailbox. I also work with our policy team on federal initiatives that impact dialysis patients, including changes to Medicare, the “bundle” and QIP and efforts to make sure all of you can take advantage of new policies put in place through health reform. Because my work at DPC is different [...]

DPC Comments on the Creation of Nephrology Specific Integrated Care Pilot Projects

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:09:25+00:00September 5th, 2012|Categories: Care Coordination, Comment Letter, Innovation|

Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) appreciates the opportunity to engage in ongoing dialogue and the continuous ability to provide feedback to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) on issues related to the improvement of care for chronic disease (CKD) patients. In our July 23, 2012 letter to CMMI leadership, we proposed several initiatives to consider as integrated care projects are considered. To further enhance our earlier statements, we have included timely data from our nationwide survey of patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD). For clarity, the following list includes the primary [...]

DPC’s Letter to Daniel Farmer of the Stakeholder Engagement Group at CMMI

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:09:25+00:00July 23rd, 2012|Categories: Care Coordination, Comment Letter, Innovation|

Daniel Farmer Stakeholder Engagement Group Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) 7500 Security Boulevard Baltimore, MD 21244 Dear Mr. Farmer: Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) appreciates the opportunity to provide ongoing feedback from the patient prospective to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) on issues related to the improvement of care for chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. We applaud the mission of the department and your role in shaping healthcare through the identification of new delivery and payment options and the promotion of best [...]

DPC’s Letter to Acting Director Richard J. Gilfillan for CMMI

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:09:26+00:00July 8th, 2011|Categories: Care Coordination, Innovation|

Acting Director Richard J. Gilfillan, M.D. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Mail Stop C5-15-12, Room C5-15-03 7500 Security Boulevard Baltimore, MD 21244 Dear Dr. Gilfillan: Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC), the nation’s largest dialysis patient organization, is writing to encourage the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) to implement a large-scale program targeted at improving health outcomes and quality of care for beneficiaries with end stage renal disease (ESRD), which would build on the success of the recent ESRD Disease Management demonstration project. As a patient education [...]

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