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Kidney Communi­ty Blocks Threats to Charitable Assistance and Dialysis Funding in California

2024-03-29T01:13:35+00:00March 18th, 2019|Categories: Article, Charitable Premium Assistance, Dialysis Funding, State Advocacy|Tags: |

By Megan Hashbarger, Director of Congressional and State Relations, Dialysis Patient Citizens Dialysis Patients Citizen’s (DPC) mission is to improve dialysis citizens’ quality of life. As a result, we have played an important role in increasing patient access to: health insurance coverage, care coordination, medications and innovative therapies. While we work hard to improve public policies for patients, sometimes we are put on defense to protect our previous hard-fought victories. One of the most important tools for protecting patient choice and access to insurance coverage is the ability of charities to provide financial assistance in helping dialysis patients purchase insurance [...]

2018 Midterm Election Wrap-Up

2024-03-29T01:13:35+00:00February 22nd, 2019|Categories: Article, Care Coordination, Charitable Premium Assistance, Medigap Coverage|

By Megan Hashbarger, Director of Congressional and State Relations, Dialysis Patient Citizens This past November, America held its 2018 midterm elections. We call it a midterm election because it is held between the four-year cycle of Presidential elections and is often seen as a reflection of the country’s temperament towards the President’s agenda. This cycle saw big wins for Democrats but also some solid victories for Republicans. While Democrats picked up over 40 seats and retook the majority in the House, Republicans held on to and increased their majority in the Senate. The only thing clear now is that for [...]

Assembly Bill 290 Threatens Dialysis Quality and Access for Patients Living in California

2024-03-29T01:13:36+00:00February 19th, 2019|Categories: Article, Charitable Premium Assistance, Dialysis Funding, Improve Access to Care, State Advocacy|

Receiving dialysis treatment three times a week is critical to survival for the 70,000 patients in California with End-Stage Renal Disease, or kidney failure. Unfortunately, this access to treatment is being threatened with California Assembly Bill 290 (Woods), which may disrupt the provider network dialysis patients rely on and lower the quality of care they depend on. This legislation is similar to Senate Bill 1156, which was defeated by dialysis patients and vetoed by California Governor Jerry Brown last year. Specifically, we are concerned that AB 290 will cut reimbursement rates private insurance companies pay to cover dialysis care. These reimbursement rates [...]

Happy Holidays and DPC’s Top 10 Accomplishments of 2018

2024-03-29T01:13:36+00:00December 19th, 2018|Categories: Advance Patient Choice, Article, Care Coordination, Charitable Premium Assistance, Dialysis Funding, Get Involved, Medicare Advantage, Medigap Coverage, Take Action, Transplant Donor Protection|Tags: |

Dialysis Patient Citizens wants to wish you and your family a Happy Holiday, as well as a safe and healthy New Year. We also want to take this opportunity to share with you our Top 10 list of accomplishments for 2018, which would not have been possible without your support. Thank you for helping us elevate the dialysis patient voice with policy makers. We are extremely grateful for all of your efforts, and we look forward to our continued collaboration in 2019 as we work together to improve dialysis patient quality of life.

Action Needed for Potential Senate Bill 1156 Vote on Monday

2024-03-29T01:13:38+00:00August 15th, 2018|Categories: Article, Charitable Premium Assistance, Dialysis Funding, State Advocacy, Take Action|

Dialysis Patient Citizens is requesting your support of kidney failure patients by urging your legislator to oppose Senate Bill 1156 (Leyva). If this bill is enacted into law, many dialysis facilities will face potential closure leaving patients to: Scramble to find new dialysis facilities for their treatment 3 times a week and Potentially travel much farther to receive their life-saving treatments Your support is critical in ensuring lawmakers are educated and reminded about the struggles patients with kidney disease will face if this bill is passed. The full California Assembly could vote on this measure as early as Monday. Help [...]

Facts About the Dialysis De-Funding Campaign in California

2024-03-29T01:13:39+00:00April 26th, 2018|Categories: Charitable Premium Assistance, Dialysis Funding, State Advocacy|

The Dialysis De-Funding Campaign is sponsored by two labor unions that seek to represent workers at dialysis clinics. Rather than try to unionize dialysis facility employees through elections, they are trying to punish dialysis providers through policies that cost them financially in order to gain voluntary recognition. The three cutback proposals are likely to affect access to care by leading to facility closures, restricting access to private insurance, and decreasing services available from facilities. The Dialysis De-Funding Campaign consists of three measures: Senate Bill 349: Regulates staffing and patient shifts at dialysis clinics. If requirements are not met because a worker [...]

Dialysis PATIENTS Act Update

2024-03-29T01:13:39+00:00January 11th, 2018|Categories: Article, Charitable Premium Assistance, Take Action|

It’s a New Year but our work to expand integrated care is far from complete! The Dialysis PATIENTS Act has soared to 142 co-sponsors, which is more than double the number of co-sponsors for the previous version of this legislation in 2016. This overwhelming support, coupled with recent data on the success of the ESRD Seamless Care Organizations signals the readiness to expand integrated care programs for dialysis patients nationwide. If you haven’t sent messages to your Members of Congress, there is still time! Please take a moment today to send a message and help continue our momentum toward improving care [...]

DPC Advocacy Day 2017 Recap

2024-03-29T01:13:40+00:00July 13th, 2017|Categories: Article, Care Coordination, Charitable Premium Assistance, Medigap Coverage|Tags: |

Each year, Dialysis Patient Citizens is proud to bring dialysis patients to Washington, D.C. in order to meet with their legislators about the issues affecting patients nationwide. This year, we are pleased to have hosted 25 dialysis patients and their family members from across the country. Patients arrived to Washington, D.C. and were greeted by an informal networking dinner to meet new advocates and re-connect with veteran advocates. The following day, those needing dialysis received treatment in four different local facilities then returned for an afternoon of advocacy training. Our primary “asks” this year were centered around the Medigap provision [...]

Advocating for Patients on World Kidney Day

2024-03-29T01:13:40+00:00March 9th, 2017|Categories: About DPC, Article, Charitable Premium Assistance, Medicare Advantage, Medigap Coverage, What is Kidney Disease?|Tags: |

Today the global community of people fighting kidney disease commemorates World Kidney Day, an effort to raise awareness of the importance of healthy kidneys and reduce the devastating impact of kidney disease, which affects 1 out of every 10 people worldwide. Although the condition is incurable, effective treatments are available. An estimated 2.6 million people with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), or kidney failure, received dialysis in 2010. That number is expected to more than double to 5.4 million by 2030. As the incidence of kidney disease rises, so too does the importance of ensuring that patients have access to lifesaving care. [...]

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