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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’s 2020 Annual Membership Survey is Live!

2024-03-29T01:12:03+00:00August 6th, 2020|Categories: 5-Star Ratings, Access to Transplant, Article, Care Coordination, Charitable Premium Assistance, Dental Coverage, Dialysis Funding, Get Involved, Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage, Innovation, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, Medigap Coverage, Quality Incentive Program, Take Action, Transplant Donor Protection, Transportation Services, Treatment Options|Tags: |

Elevate the Voice of Patients with Kidney Disease and Their Caregivers Our 2020 Annual Membership Survey is live, and it will remain open until Friday, August 21. We are counting on your participation, as patient 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 preferences. Your feedback is crucial. Therefore, we will [...]

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Happy Holidays and DPC’s Top 10 Accomplishments of 2019

2024-03-29T01:13:32+00:00December 20th, 2019|Categories: 5-Star Ratings, About DPC, Access to Transplant, Article, Care Coordination, Charitable Premium Assistance, Dental Coverage, Dialysis Funding, Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage, Innovation, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, Medigap Coverage, Quality Incentive Program, Transplant Donor Protection, Transportation Services, Treatment Options|

Dialysis Patient Citizens wants to wish you and your family a Happy Holiday, as well as a safe and healthy New Year. Our offices will be closed for the holidays starting December 23 through January 1. We also want to take this opportunity to share our list of Top 10 Accomplishments for 2019, which would not have been possible without your support. Thank you again for helping us elevate the dialysis patient voice with policy makers. We are extremely grateful for all of your advocacy efforts, and we look forward to our continued collaboration in 2020 as we work together to improve dialysis [...]

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DPC’s Letter to the California Assembly About Quality Ratings

2024-03-29T01:13:35+00:00April 23rd, 2019|Categories: 5-Star Ratings, Comment Letter, State Advocacy|

Assembly Member Jim Wood Chair Committee on Health State Capitol, Room 6005 Sacramento, CA 95814 Assembly Member Chad Mayes Vice Chair Committee on Health State Capitol, Room 6005 Sacramento, CA 95814 Re: Support for AB 1448 Dear Chairman Wood and Vice Chairman Mayes: With 32,000 dialysis patient members, over 4,000 of whom reside in California, Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) is the nation’s largest patient-led organization representing individuals with end-stage renal disease (ESRD).  On behalf of California’s 70,000 ESRD patients and the DPC Board of Directors, I am writing to express our strong support for [...]

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CMS Announces Changes to Dialysis Facility Compare and Star Ratings

2024-03-29T01:13:41+00:00November 14th, 2016|Categories: 5-Star Ratings, Article|

On October 28, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) added patient experience survey results and two new clinical quality measures as well as updated the way CMS calculates star ratings on its Dialysis Facility Compare website. The star ratings were originally included on the Dialysis Facility Compare website on January 22, 2015 and were previously updated in October 2015. Currently, there are star ratings on Dialysis Facility Compare, Nursing Home Compare, Physician Compare, Home Health Compare and Hospital Compare. CMS is adding patient experience of care survey information from the In-Center Hemodialysis Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and [...]

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Archive of CMS Contractors’ Reports

2024-03-29T01:50:28+00:00September 23rd, 2016|Categories: 5-Star Ratings, Article, Uncategorized|

Health Care Quality Measures and Transparency  Pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by DPC in 2015, we present here a number of research reports from CMS contractors on health care quality measures and transparency. The link below takes you to a 208-page PDF document produced by CMS in response to the FOIA. Below is a list of the seven reports in the PDF, along with the authoring organization and PDF page numbers at which each individual report begins. FOIA Request File Quality Measures Survey 2014 Aeffect p.2 Quality Compare Environmental Scan KRC Research August 1, 2012 p.16 [...]

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Proposed Changes to Dialysis Facility Compare Tool May Make It More Useful

2024-03-29T01:50:29+00:00March 16th, 2016|Categories: 5-Star Ratings, Article, Comment Letter|

Dialysis Facility Compare (DFC) is an online tool that allows users to search and compare dialysis facilities based on star ratings and certain measures. DPC has previously submitted suggestions on how to improve the proposed measures. Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced in a Planned Changes document that the star ratings included in the DFC would be reassigned based on a 2014 threshold, meaning that the distribution of ratings would look more like it does on CMS’ other websites, and apply standards that are more familiar and intuitive to consumers. DPC submitted another comment letter (published [...]

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2015 Year in Review

2024-03-29T01:50:30+00:00January 19th, 2016|Categories: 5-Star Ratings, Access to Transplant, Article, Care Coordination, Charitable Premium Assistance, Dialysis Funding, Innovation, Medicare Advantage|Tags: |

Happy New Year!  In 2015, DPC leadership and its strong patient advocacy efforts at the state level fought to: prevent dramatic cuts to dialysis funding in Alabama and Illinois and preserve charity payments for dialysis patient premiums. Other highlights include: The opportunity for DPC CEO Hrant Jamgochian and board member Bob Lee to testify in front of the Oregon insurance commissioner on the discriminatory language found in two private insurance plans that would limit coverage for ESRD patients. The commissioner ruled against the language. DPC board member Danny Iniguez discussed health disparities in kidney disease at the National Black Caucus [...]

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DPC Submits Feedback to CMS on Proposed Additions to Dialysis Facility Compare Tool

2024-03-29T01:50:31+00:00December 11th, 2015|Categories: 5-Star Ratings, Article, Comment Letter|

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced plans to add more measures to their Dialysis Facility Compare (DFC). The DFC is an online tool that allows users to search and compare dialysis facilities within a certain area based on ratings and certain measures. The added measures would examine fluid management, the rate of blood stream infections in in-center hemodialysis patients and pediatric peritoneal dialysis adequacy. Data collected through the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers & Systems In-Center Hemodialysis (CAHPS ICH) surveys would also be added to the DFC. DPC submitted comments to CMS supporting the addition of these measures [...]

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Report Finds Star Rating System Does Not Follow Federal Guidelines

2024-03-29T01:50:32+00:00August 14th, 2015|Categories: 5-Star Ratings, Article, Uncategorized|

The Medicare five-star rating system, maintained by the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services’ (CMS), has recently come under scrutiny by the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE). In a letter from last month, CRE officials report that multiple entities have contacted them about the system possibly violating federal regulations. According to the letter, data from the rating system helps in determining rebates, eligibility and bonuses for patients.  Current law requires this information be posted on a federal register to receive comments from stakeholders.  CRE officials found CMS has instead been posting the information on their website and providing only summaries of comments. [...]

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