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Action Alert – Protect ESRD Patient Access to Private Coverage

2024-03-29T01:09:22+00:00August 19th, 2022|Categories: Article, Private Insurance Coverage, Protect Patient Care, Take Action|

Ask your representative to co-sponsor H.R. 8594/S. 4750, legislation that would protect ESRD patients by allowing them to maintain private, employer health coverage up to 30 months after diagnosis with kidney failure. A recent Supreme Court ruling now threatens their access to private coverage by permitting health plans to carve off dialysis benefits from their networks and impose restrictive terms on kidney patients.  The continuation of high-quality care and benefits during this 30-month coordination period helps kidney patient’s successfully transition into life on dialysis and/or kidney transplantation. Leave your legacy through advocacy and urge your representative to co-sponsor this life-saving legislation and restore the protections [...]

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DPC’s Letter to Hon. Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, Administrator for CMS

2024-03-29T01:09:22+00:00August 18th, 2022|Categories: Comment Letter, Medicare Advantage, News, Protect Patient Care, Quality Incentive Program, Uncategorized|

August 18, 2022 Hon. Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, Administrator Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 7500 Security Boulevard Baltimore, MD  21244 Re:       End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System (PPS) Calendar Year (CY) 2023 Proposed Rule (CMS-1768-P) Dear Administrator Brooks-LaSure: Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) writes to offer its comments on the above referenced proposed rule. DPC's membership, currently over 30,000, is restricted to kidney disease patients and their family members. DPC is a patient-led organization.  Our by-laws require that the President, Vice President and at least 51% of the Board be current dialysis patients.  The non-dialysis patients serving on our Board [...]

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DPC Submits Comments on Medicare’s 2022 ESRD Payment Rule

2024-03-29T01:09:22+00:00August 18th, 2022|Categories: Article, Comment Letter, Medicare Advantage, Protect Patient Care, Quality Incentive Program|

DPC’s comment letter on Medicare’s 2022 ESRD Payment Rule highlighted the impact that labor shortages may have on dialysis patients. “Currently, there are nearly two job openings for every available unemployed worker. Vulnerable patients need a labor market in which there is a one-to-one ratio of health care workers for vacancies in essential jobs. Over the long term, the government may need to act to foster interest among young people in healthcare careers and facilitate their preparation for such roles. But in the immediate term, it is necessary to ensure that wages for jobs like dialysis technicians are competitive.” DPC is [...]

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Dialysis Patient Citizens Applauds New Legislation Prohibiting Discrimination Against Dialysis Patients

2024-03-29T01:09:22+00:00August 1st, 2022|Categories: Medicare Advantage, Press Release, Private Insurance Coverage, Protect Patient Care|

WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 1, 2022) -- Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) today released the following statement applauding the introduction of H.R. 8594 by Representatives Yvette Clarke (D-NY-9), Buddy Carter (R-GA-1), Jodey Arrington, (R-TX-19), and Danny Davis (D-IL-7) to prohibit discrimination against dialysis patients in insurance coverage. “We thank Representatives Clarke, Carter, Arrington, and Davis for introducing this essential piece of legislation that will protect dialysis patients from facing unjust discrimination in their health coverage,” said DPC Board President Andrew Conkling. “Dialysis patients have a right to continue on employer-provided plans for 30 months after being diagnosed with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), [...]

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Rhode Island Medigap Legislation Signed by Governor McKee

2024-03-29T01:09:22+00:00July 21st, 2022|Categories: Article, Medicare Advantage, Medigap Coverage, State Advocacy|

On June 30,2022, Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee signed into law H. 7244 and S. 2194, which provide guaranteed issue access to Medicare Supplement Insurance coverage – known as Medigap – for under age 65 residents with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) and qualified disabled. The legislation becomes effective July 1, 2023. The new law also provides premium protections through the premium rate review process of the Office of the State Health Insurance Commissioner. While DPC is disappointed that this legislation limits access only to Medicare Supplement Plan A, we recognize this is a major step by Rhode Island that qualified [...]

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Supreme Court Erases Kidney Patients’ Insurance Protections

2024-03-29T01:10:07+00:00June 22nd, 2022|Categories: Article, Dialysis Funding, Medicare Advantage, Private Insurance Coverage, Protect Patient Care|

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling has nullified the law that protects dialysis patients from discrimination by insurers, threatening the system of financing kidney care that has stood for 40 years. The Court ruled that employer health plans may limit dialysis benefits. For four decades, employers understood the law as prohibiting limitations that only applied to dialysis. Some health benefit consultants encouraged a few small employers to disregard the law by paying no more than Medicare rates for dialysis. DaVita sued them, and one of the cases was appealed to the Supreme Court. The decision means that employers and insurers can [...]

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Dialysis Patient Citizens Statement Following Supreme Court Decision in Marietta Memorial Hospital v. Davita

2024-03-29T01:10:07+00:00June 21st, 2022|Categories: Medicare Advantage, Press Release, Private Insurance Coverage, Protect Patient Care|

WASHINGTON, D.C., (June 21, 2022) -- Following the United States Supreme Court decision in the case of Marietta Memorial Hospital v. Davita, Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) Board of Directors President Andrew Conkling issued the following statement: “DPC is deeply disappointed by today’s Supreme Court decision,” said DPC Board President Andrew Conkling. “Congress long ago reaffirmed privately-insured patients’ right to continue on their employer-sponsored plan for 30 months. This played an important role in preserving patient choice and incentivizing insurers to detect and treat Chronic Kidney Disease. ESRD patients are among the most vulnerable Americans and face some of the largest [...]

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DPC Urges Continuity of Care for Medicaid Enrollees with Chronic Health Conditions When Eligibility Redeterminations Resume

2024-03-29T01:10:08+00:00April 21st, 2022|Categories: Article, Medicaid, Protect Patient Care|

Two years ago, Congress mandated a pause on Medicaid eligibility redeterminations during the COVID Public Health Emergency. The emergency declaration is expected to end soon, and states will again require Medicaid enrollees prove their eligibility. As many as 15 million enrollees are expected to lose their coverage, mostly because they have accepted higher-paying jobs, but others may slip through the cracks due to address changes and the like. DPC has written to the federal Medicaid director asking that CMS and the states make a special effort to ensure continuity of coverage for patients with chronic diseases, such as CKD, hypertension, and [...]

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DPC’s Letter to Dr. Meena Seshamani, Deputy Administrator and Director for CMS

2024-03-29T01:10:09+00:00March 7th, 2022|Categories: Comment Letter, Increase Quality of Care, Policy Issues, Protect Patient Care|

March 7, 2022 Dr. Meena Seshamani Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 7500 Security Boulevard Baltimore, MD  21244 Re:      Dialysis Workforce Issues Dear Dr. Seshamani: We are writing to express our concerns about shortages of labor and supplies that are causing disruptions in dialysis treatments. We urge CMS and its sister operating divisions in HHS to develop plans for health care workforce generally and dialysis workforce in particular; and to make whatever adjustments are necessary to Medicare payment policy necessary to assure patients’ access to care. To the best of our recollection, the U.S. is experiencing a tight labor market [...]

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Final ESCO Evaluation Documents Care Coordination Success Story

2024-03-29T01:10:09+00:00March 2nd, 2022|Categories: Article, Increase Quality of Care, Medicare Advantage, Protect Patient Care|

Medicare’s Comprehensive ESRD Care Model was designed to identify, test, and evaluate new ways to improve care for End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patients. It established ESRD Seamless Care Organizations (ESCOs) that brought dialysis clinics and nephrologists together to coordinate patients’ kidney- and non-kidney care. This demonstration project ended last year and was replaced by a similar one this year. The Medicare Innovation Center has released the final evaluation report for the ESCOs. Overall, the ESCOs showed modest but statistically significant results over the five performance years, reducing Medicare expenditures. The number of hospitalizations decreased 3% and the percent of beneficiaries with [...]

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