Dialysis Patient Citizens News
Letter: Will Rep. Lee support bill to help dialysis patients?
After being diagnosed with end-stage renal disease in 2014, I’ve experienced dialysis treatments at home, in a clinic, and have even traveled with my dialysis equipment. While dialysis created a lot of anxiety for me at first, I have had the benefit of working with an excellent treatment team that is sensitive to my needs as a patient and ensures my treatments are tailored. Congress is working on a bill that can help dialysis patients benefit from care coordination like I have. The Chronic Kidney Disease Improvement [...]
Visit the New Kidney Care Matters Site to Find Out What You Can do to Help Dialysis Patients
Dialysis Patient Citizens is excited to announce that the new Kidney Care Matters website is live. This initiative, led by DPC, is focused on promoting better kidney care through care coordination for people with End-Stage Renal Disease. Coordinated care means that all health care providers serving a patient share information with each other in a timely manner about the patient’s health, treatments prescribed, and care delivered. Well-structured care coordination has the potential to provide a more focused, dedicated care management approach that would streamline care, improve health [...]
Patient Advocates Raising Awareness Through Letters to the Editor
Dialysis Patient Citizens takes great pride in the work that our patient ambassadors are doing each and every day in their communities and local dialysis facilities. Through providing additional education and access to resources for fellow dialysis patients, they help to make a difference in the lives of patients and encourage them to be their own advocates. One of the ways our ambassadors are making their voices heard are through letters to the editor, where they write and submit a letter to the editor to his/her local [...]
We Need the BETTER Kidney Care Act
For over three years, dialysis has been a central part of my life. Three times every week I go to the dialysis center, where I check in on my friends who also get treated there and catch up on my favorite cooking shows during my treatment. The doctors and nurses at my facility are incredible. They’re like a second family, and often pick up on medical problems before they even start doing tests. Even when I suffered a major stroke at the dialysis center, they were there [...]
Letters: Action Needed to Help Alabama Dialysis Patients
One of the most difficult moments of my life was finding out that, despite being only 24 years old, my kidney was beginning to fail. After years of dialysis and a kidney transplant, I learned through my experiences in the health care system what needs to be improved. Doctors and nurses need a better care coordination framework to more effectively treat their patients. I had the benefit of working with terrific nurses and other providers who met my needs and communicated well between one another, but unfortunately that’s [...]
Opinion: BETTER Kidney Care Act can help Missouri dialysis patients cut down on costs
When I first learned I had kidney disease, I was fortunate to not have to start dialysis right away. For about six or seven years, my doctor worked hard to keep me healthy, doing everything he felt was safe before finally recommending that I begin dialysis treatments. When I finally began dialysis treatments at my local clinic, I found a dedicated and involved team of health care providers that were always willing to respond to calls and answer my questions, no matter the time of day. The team [...]
Help for Dialysis Patients
Too often, we forget about the personal and mental health struggles facing patients with serious medical illnesses. This is especially true for dialysis patients, who often have to upend their lives to receive the treatments they need. I’ve experienced this personally when after three years of balancing dialysis treatments and doctor’s appointments, I was forced to close a successful restaurant that I had built from the ground up. What followed were years of struggle in order to manage my treatments and ensure that I was receiving the [...]
Sen. Grassley, Leaders in Dialysis Community Pay Tribute to the Late Jack Reynolds, Former DPC President and Founding Board Member
WASHINGTON, D.C., (May 14, 2020) -- Today, Dialysis Patients Citizens (DPC) released statements from U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and leaders in the dialysis community in honor of the late Jack Reynolds, who served as former DPC president and a founding Board member. U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA): “One of the privileges of public service is meeting Iowans like Jack Reynolds. A farm kid who nearly lost his life at age 4, Jack survived against the odds of a 100-gallon barrel of water crushing his abdomen. By age [...]
The Coronavirus Outbreak Puts Dialysis Patients At Risk
While most people with COVID-19 experience mild symptoms, dialysis patients like me who have a weakened immune system are more vulnerable to serious complications from the highly contagious virus. Now more than ever, immunocompromised patients with kidney disease must have coordinated medical care to ensure they are receiving the best health care possible from all of our medical providers. I know how well this works first hand because I am part of a coordinated care pilot program. Because of my multiple conditions, I see a nephrologist, a [...]
Letter: The BETTER Kidney Care Act is an important step forward
My experience with dialysis extends four years: from when my first kidney transplant failed in 2014 to when I received my second transplant in 2018. During that time, the most frustrating thing I encountered was a lack of care coordination. I bounced between several doctors who treated my various health issues independently. Every doctor’s visit required me to provide my full medical history, which was time-consuming and labor-intensive. This was a burdensome task while still working a full-time job to support my family. However, my treatment center [...]
Another Dialysis Ballot Initiative Looming in California
Last week, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and United Health Workers West (UHW) submitted petition signatures for a potential ballot initiative in November. If the signatures are approved, California voters will vote on measure to dramatically increase the cost of dialysis care. The same group backed a similar measure (Proposition 8) two years ago, which voters widely rejected. DPC opposes the current ballot initiative because it adds burdensome requirements intended to drive up the cost of care for dialysis patients. One provision, in particular, would require [...]
ESRD Network – Your Resource for Access to Care
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which is the federal Agency that oversees the Medicare program, recently reiterated its commitment to ensuring dialysis patient access to care during the current pandemic. They said that if any dialysis patients are having problems with transportation, that prevent you from getting to dialysis, they want to help. CMS also knows that your dialysis access is your lifeline, so if you have any complications with your fistula, graft or catheter and need help – that is why they created [...]
Sign the Petition to Support Integrated Care for Dialysis Patients
We are pleased to report that Congress is working on draft legislation—known as the BETTER Kidney Care Act—to expand care coordination opportunities for dialysis patients. The COVID-19 pandemic has put the health of kidney disease patients at risk more than ever before, while also demonstrating the many challenges to ensuring their continuity of their care. Show your support for improving the lives of dialysis patients during this unprecedented time by signing our on-line petition to increase dialysis patient access to care coordination, then urge Congress to enact [...]
Increasing State Policy Maker Outreach to Better Support our Members During COVID-19
DPC works tirelessly on behalf of its patient members to elevate their voice and concerns to elected officials about policy issues that impact ESRD patients. As you know, DPC has expanded its state advocacy efforts over the past year and added two staff members who focus on state issues and government relations. So, how does an organization continue this level of engagement during a pandemic when state legislatures are recessed, and social distancing doesn’t allow face-to-face interactions? Moreover, most state governments are focused solely on fighting COVID-19 [...]
Advancing Care Coordination for Dialysis Patients: An Update
Efforts to modernize the delivery of quality care to dialysis patients reach several milestones in 2020: Medicare’s first care coordination program for kidney care, the Comprehensive ESRD Care Model, expires at the end of this year; providers have been invited to participate in a new program, the Comprehensive Kidney Care Contracting Model; end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients will, in October, for the first time have access to their choice of Medicare Advantage plans effective January 1, 2021; and a new bill is being introduced in Congress to [...]
Are You Scared or Anxious about COVID-19?
We are living in a time of uncertainty with the COVID-19 pandemic, which can lead to stress, fear, depression, and anxiety. We may feel overwhelmed at times and bored at other times. We may be at a loss for how to cope with social distancing, not seeing friends and family, and the possibility of getting sick. If you are a dialysis patient, receiving treatment either in-center or at home, your facility social worker is a great resource for you. Or, if you are a transplant patient, you can [...]
Connect with DPC on Social Media
DPC is now on Instagram and LinkedIn! Be sure to follow us to learn about our policy issues, action alerts how you can get involved and more. In addition to these platforms, you can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Use the links below to get started: Instagram LinkedIn Facebook Twitter YouTube
The COVID-19 Explosion—Lessons from New York—What Kidney Patients Should Know
During this webinar you will learn the latest on: 1) What kidney patients need to do (dialysis & transplant), 2) What dialysis facilities are doing and 3) What we can learn from New York’s COVID-19 experience.
Care Coordination Fixes One of the Biggest Flaws in the American Health Care System.
As a dialysis patient, it has become clear to me that one of the biggest flaws in the American health care system is the disjointed way care is often provided to patients. If patients have chronic conditions alongside other health complications, it can be exceedingly difficult to navigate the different doctors and hospitals we need in order to receive proper care. When seeing so many different doctors at various clinics and hospitals, patients like me can suffer adverse effects if all our treatments are not designed to [...]