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DPC Urges Medicare Officials to Take Action on Dialysis Workforce Shortages

2024-03-29T01:10:09+00:00March 7th, 2022|Categories: Article, Comment Letter, Improve Access to Care, Increase Quality of Care, Medicare Advantage|

DPC has written to top Medicare officials asking that they develop policy options to address the current labor shortage. The letter notes that the lengthy rulemaking process used to update payments to healthcare providers is ill-suited to react to urgent changes in the labor market. Fourteen years ago, the prestigious Institute of Medicine warned that as Americans aged, there would be fewer workers to take care of more elderly and disabled individuals. DPC’s letter urges officials to take another look at the report, which recommended “wage pass through” components of provider payments to address rising wages and delegating more responsibilities to [...]

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Don’t Forget to Apply for DPC’s 2022 Advocacy Day!

2024-03-29T01:10:09+00:00February 22nd, 2022|Categories: Advance Patient Choice, Improve Access to Care, Increase Quality of Care, News, Promote Financial Security, Protect Patient Care, Take Action|

DPC is pleased to invite you to apply for our 2022 Advocacy Day. Please apply by February 25th. Each year, Dialysis Patient Citizens is excited to host a Congressional Advocacy Day for kidney patients and transplant recipients to meet with their federal legislators and talk about issues that affect their quality of care. Historically, our members have come to Washington, D.C., to meet with their Congressional Members in person. However, we are conducting a virtual "fly-in" in 2022 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic in order to ensure the safety of our participants. We will be hosting our Congressional Advocacy Day [...]

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DPC Responds to Medicare Officials’ Request for Information on Transplants and Home Modalities

2024-03-29T01:10:10+00:00January 31st, 2022|Categories: Access to Transplant, Advance Patient Choice, Article, Improve Access to Care, Medicare Advantage, Treatment Options|

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are preparing new initiatives to promote transplant and home dialysis, and asked the public for recommendations. The request came as part of the President’s Executive Orders “to advance health equity and improve health outcomes for people in need of a life-saving transplant and dialysis,” according to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. DPC responded to several elements of the request. Equity in Organ Transplantation – DPC reiterated its position, shared by many experts, that Medicare should supplement payments on behalf of disadvantaged patients so providers can give them extra assistance in seeking transplants. [...]

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DPC Advocates Take Congress by Web Storm

2024-03-29T01:10:12+00:00September 21st, 2021|Categories: Article, Care Coordination, Get Involved, Improve Access to Care, Medigap Coverage, News, Patient Ambassadors, Policy Issues, Promote Financial Security, State Advocacy|

DPC held its annual Congressional Advocacy Day on September 21st, which was another great success! More than a hundred and fifty DPC Patient Ambassadors, Board members, staff and dialysis partners participated in nearly 200 Congressional meetings throughout the day to lobby on two important federal bills that would provide greater financial security and improve the quality of life for dialysis patients: The Jack Reynolds Memorial Medigap Expansion Act (H.R. 1676) would expand guaranteed issue rights to Medicare supplemental health insurance policies, known as Medigap, to all End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patients under age 65 in every state. Access to [...]

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2021 Annual Survey Last Call!

2024-03-29T01:10:13+00:00August 26th, 2021|Categories: 5-Star Ratings, Access to Transplant, Article, Care Coordination, Charitable Premium Assistance, Dental Coverage, Dialysis Funding, Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage, Innovation, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, Medigap Coverage, Patient's Voice, Protect Patient Care, Quality Incentive Program, Take Action, Transplant Donor Protection, Transportation Services, Treatment Options|Tags: |

24 hours remain to complete our survey. Make sure to complete your survey for a chance at one of 10 remaining $100 gift certificates. Our 2021 Annual Membership Survey is live, and it will remain open until Friday, August 27. Your feedback helps to shape our public policy agenda and patient education priorities for the next year. This year we ask that both patients and caregivers take our survey. Rest assured your responses will remain completely anonymous. We only share the overall survey results with state and federal level policy makers, so they will better understand your needs, experiences, and [...]

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DPC Urges Medicare to Add Resources for Health Equity

2024-03-29T01:10:13+00:00August 19th, 2021|Categories: Comment Letter, Improve Access to Care, Medicare Advantage, Quality Incentive Program|

DPC has filed its letter commenting on this year’s Medicare ESRD Proposed Rule, which governs payments to dialysis facilities. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) heralded this year’s payment rules as undertaking new initiatives to reduce health disparities. DPC’s letter critiques these initiatives as insufficient and endorses alternative approaches. CMS is proposing to collect new data on racial disparities, and to stratify quality measures so that facilities serving disadvantaged patients no longer receive QIP payment reductions simply because patients are poor. DPC endorses these moves, but points to recent calls by experts to address disparities by supplementing payments to [...]

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Action Alert – Support Care Coordination for Dialysis Patients

2024-03-29T01:10:13+00:00August 16th, 2021|Categories: Article, Care Coordination, Improve Access to Care, Take Action|

The BETTER Kidney Care Act (H.R. 4942/S. 2649) was reintroduced by Senators Young (R-IN) and Sinema (D-AZ), along with Representatives Blumenauer (D-OR), Butterfield (D-N), and Cardenas (D-CA). This bill would enhance access to care coordination services for thousands of patients across the United States currently living with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). It could also help with services not covered by Medicare such as dental care and transportation. Coordinated care is essential for improving the overall care and health of ESRD patients. Specifically, better care coordination could mean help for patients with: scheduling doctors’ appointments, reviewing their medication regime, dealing with dialysis [...]

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Urge Congress to Support the Jack Reynolds Memorial Medigap Expansion Act!

2024-03-29T01:10:14+00:00July 6th, 2021|Categories: Advance Patient Choice, Article, Improve Access to Care, Medigap Coverage, Take Action|

Expanding Medigap coverage for End-Stage Renal Disease patients of all ages is a critical step to eliminating financial barriers to care, especially when it comes to transplantation. Congresswomen Cynthia Axne (D-IA-03) and Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA-03) recently introduced the Jack Reynolds Memorial Medigap Expansion Act (H.R. 1676) in honor of DPC founding Board member and our longest-serving president Jack Reynolds. This important bill would guarantee access to Medigap coverage for patients under 65 who suffer from End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). There are already 19 bi-partisan co-sponsors who are working to ensure ESRD patients can obtain insurance coverage to pay for the [...]

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CMS Proposes Changes to Medicare Payments for End-Stage Renal Disease

2024-03-29T01:10:14+00:00July 1st, 2021|Categories: Article, Improve Access to Care, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, Quality Incentive Program|

On July 1, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its ESRD Prospective Payment System (PPS) annual rulemaking. This proposed rule would update ESRD PPS payment rates, make changes to the ESRD Quality Incentive Program (QIP), and modify the ESRD Treatment Choices (ETC) Model for 2022. The proposed changes to the ETC Model policies aim to encourage dialysis providers to decrease disparities in rates of home dialysis and kidney transplants among ESRD patients with lower socioeconomic status, making the model the agency’s first CMS Innovation Center project to address health equity. The ETC model rewards ESRD facilities and [...]

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Dialysis Patient Citizens Statement Commemorating Juneteenth

2024-03-29T01:10:15+00:00June 17th, 2021|Categories: Article, Improve Access to Care|

WASHINGTON, D.C., (June 17, 2021) -- Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) today released the following statement recognizing Juneteenth and reaffirming its commitment to addressing healthcare disparities among kidney patients nationwide. “Today we commemorate Juneteenth, an important day in history that celebrates the emancipation of enslaved Americans and allows us an opportunity for reflection on both our nation’s history and how much further we have to go,” said DPC Board President Andrew Conkling. “Black Americans continue to face systemic inequalities in our country, including healthcare disparities that disproportionately hurt patients from communities of color. Too many patients with kidney disease experience firsthand unacceptable racial [...]

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