Increase Quality of Care Archives - Page 9 of 17

CMS Releases Proposed Payment Rule for 2018

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:13:40+00:00July 19th, 2017|Categories: Article, Innovation, Quality Incentive Program|

On June 29, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its proposed Annual Payment Rule for the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Program to govern dialysis services furnished beginning January 1, 2018. The proposed rule also makes minor changes to the ESRD Quality Incentive Program (QIP). This year’s rule includes an increase to the base rate, replacing QIP measures as well as including social risk factors in the QIP scores. CMS says the ESRD proposed rule is “one of several rules for 2018 that reflect a broader Administration-wide strategy to relieve regulatory burdens for providers; support the patient-doctor relationship [...]

New Pieces of Legislation Passed Mark Up to Improve Dialysis Care
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New Pieces of Legislation Passed Mark Up to Improve Dialysis Care

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:13:40+00:00July 19th, 2017|Categories: Care Coordination, Increase Quality of Care, Medicare Advantage|

View from the gallery as the committee approves the legislation. Two pieces of legislation have been passed by unanimous consent by the Ways and Means Committee with provisions that improve dialysis care. The Medicare Part B Improvement Act of 2017 (H.R. 3178) and H.R. 3168—contain 3 provisions which will improve dialysis care. H.R. 3178 expands access to home dialysis by allowing the use of telemedicine for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) related visits as well as allows new dialysis facilities to received outside accreditation in order to provide treatment. The second piece of legislation includes a provision to allow [...]

Dialysis Patient Advocates Urge Congress to Improve Kidney Disease Research and Care

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:13:40+00:00May 30th, 2017|Categories: Dialysis Funding, Medigap Coverage, Press Release|

Advocates for dialysis patients announced their strong support of bipartisan legislation introduced in Congress last week that would augment research on kidney disease, improve coordination among kidney care providers and expand coverage options for patients with kidney failure, also called end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The Chronic Kidney Disease Improvement in Research and Treatment Act (H.R. 2644) would improve the care of the more than 675,000 ESRD patients nationwide who require transplantation or frequent dialysis treatments to survive. Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC), a leading advocacy group for people with kidney disease that represents nearly 30,000 dialysis and pre-dialysis patients, is particularly [...]

CMS Updates Policies and Payment Rates for End-Stage Renal Disease Prospective Payment System (CMS 1651-F)

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:13:41+00:00November 14th, 2016|Categories: Article, Dialysis Funding, Quality Incentive Program, Treatment Options|

On October 28, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule that updates payment policies and rates under the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System (PPS) for renal dialysis services furnished beginning January 1, 2017. Under the ESRD PPS for 2017, Medicare expects to pay approximately $9 billion to approximately 6,000 ESRD facilities to cover dialysis services. The finalized 2017 ESRD base rate will be $231.55. CMS projects that the updates for 2017 will increase total payments to all ESRD facilities by 0.73 percent compared with 2016, amounting to about $80 million. CMS is finalizing an increase to [...]

CMS Announces Changes to Dialysis Facility Compare and Star Ratings

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:13:41+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 [...]

Archive of CMS Contractors’ Reports

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:28+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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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