Dialysis Patient Citizens News
Patient Outcry Draws a Two-Year Reprieve From Dialysis Cuts
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) acknowledged patient concerns by delaying for two years its planned cut to the Medicare End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) program. The Medicare agency’s decision didn’t give dialysis patients everything we asked for, but it does mean that nearly $2 billion slated to be cut from kidney care in 2014 and 2015 will remain available to treat patients. However, it also means that patient advocates must be vigilant for any signs that access to care is shrinking as providers anticipate cuts [...]
Apply for DPC’s 2014 World Kidney Day Fly-in
Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) is holding our 2014 World Kidney Day Fly-in from March 11 through March 13 in Washington, DC. Are you ready to join the nation’s top patient advocates in Washington, DC and talk to your legislators directly about the issues that affect dialysis patients? If so, be sure to apply! We are looking for kidney disease patients who are passionate about dialysis advocacy. Before applying, you must first enroll in DPC’s Patient’s Ambassador Program. Preference will be given to applicants who have volunteered for [...]
CMS Releases Final Rule on 9.4% Cut to Medicare ESRD Program
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) just released a final rule on the proposed 9.4% cut to dialysis funding. The final rule made the following changes: The payment rate for dialysis services will remain the same in 2014 and 2015. The proposed 12% cut to dialysis was delayed until 2016 and will be phased in over 4 years. There will be a 50% increase in the home dialysis training payment. In response, DPC released the following statement: DPC appreciates the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ [...]
Has the ACA Expanded Medicare’s Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Recipients?
By Jim Myers, DPC Patient Ambassador. I had a conversation with my doctor last week. (My nephrologist, Dr. Vavilala, we call him Dr. V). He asked me if I had heard anything during my last trip to Washington, D.C. about an extension of coverage through the ACA to kidney transplant patients of the immunosuppressive drug coverage beyond the 36 month period that currently exists. This rang a bell in the back of my brain, so I decided to check it out. Every transplant patient or transplant candidate [...]
HOPE Act Moves to White House to be Signed into Law
The U.S. Congress took an important step Tuesday evening with House passage of the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act, which will allow research on donation of organs from deceased HIV-infected donors to HIV-infected recipients. Having been passed by the Senate in June, the bill is now positioned to move to the White House to be signed into law. The HOPE Act modernizes outdated federal law to reflect the current medical understanding of HIV infection and to allow for scientific research. For patients living with HIV, deceased [...]
How Engaged Are You?
Meshia Adams By Meshia Adams, DPC Patient Ambassador If you asked me if I was an engaged patient, I would tell you yes. I can tell you what my last lab values are; I am compliant with taking my medications and see my doctors on a regular basis. I consider myself to be a responsible patient who is closely involved in my healthcare needs. I haven’t always been active in my care or engaged as a patient. In the beginning, I was in a state [...]
Extension of Florida’s Managed Medical Assistance (MMA) Waiver
Justin Senior State Medicaid Director Agency for Health Care Administration 2727 Mahan Drive, MS #8 Tallahassee, Florida 32308 Re: Extension of Florida’s Managed Medical Assistance (MMA) Waiver (Project Number 11- W-00206/4) Dear Mr. Senior: Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) appreciates the opportunity to provide the Agency for Health Care Administration with comments on extension of the managed care waiver. As America’s largest patient-led organization representing dialysis patients, DPC’s membership consists of more than 26,000 end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and their families. We seek to ensure the [...]
Health Insurance Marketplaces Under Affordable Care Act Are Open For Business: What Does It Mean For Kidney Patients?
On October 1, online health insurance exchanges went live. Here's what dialysis patients should know about the Affordable Care Act (also known as ACA or "Obamacare"): Health insurance sold in the ACA exchanges is for people who do not (or will not after January 1) have health insurance provided by Medicare or an employer-sponsored health plan. Kidney patients who have received a transplant and whose Medicare coverage has ended/will end soon will want to explore receiving coverage through an ACA exchange plan. Pre-existing conditions will not be [...]
Promoting Care Coordination for Dialysis Patients
Federal policymakers have long grappled with the problem of better coordinating care for Medicare beneficiaries. As the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has noted, "Gaps exist in care coordination in fee-for-service Medicare because of the fragmentation of service delivery, the lack of tools to help communicate across settings or providers, and the lack of a financial incentive to coordinate care." Part of the problem is that the Original, or fee-for-service, Medicare largely froze in place mainstream medical and insurance practices as they stood in 1965, when the program was created. [...]
Kidney Care Partners’ Quality Initiative Spurs 25 Percent Improvement In Mortality Rates for Dialysis Patients Within the First 90 Days Of Treatment, 13.6 Percent Improvement In First Year
Kidney Care Partners' PEAK (Performance Excellence and Accountability in Kidney Care) quality improvement initiative spurred a 25 percent reduction in mortality rates for dialysis patients in the first 90 days of treatment and a nearly 14 percent reduction during the first year, according to an analysis of data prepared by Brown University*. Launched in 2009, the PEAK Campaign was a voluntary community initiative designed to highlight proven practices with the goal of improving the rate of survival of kidney failure patients new to dialysis. Available data at the [...]
Dialysis Advocates Oppose Cuts in Washington, DC
We still need your help letting your Members of Congress know that you strongly disagree with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid's (CMS) proposed 9.4% cut to dialysis treatment funding. Earlier this month we had an extremely successful Fly-In here in Washington, DC. A Fly-In, if you aren't familiar with the term, is a focused event that invites individuals to Washington, DC, to meet with key elected officials on Capitol Hill who need to be informed on a specific issue by the people who are personally impacted. Dialysis [...]
Act Now! Protect the Medicare ESRD Program!
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) just released a regulation that proposes to reduce Medicare funding for dialysis treatments by 9.4%. The American Taxpayers Relief Act (the fiscal cliff deal) mandated CMS to adjust the price it pays for dialysis to reflect the recent change in usage of certain anemia management drugs. However, no one in the kidney community expected CMS to propose such a dramatic cut. These cuts are dangerous and a serious threat to patient access to quality care. Facilities will likely have to [...]
Stop the Cuts to Dialysis Treatment Reimbursement
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency responsible for Medicare, just released a regulation that proposes to reduce Medicare funding for dialysis treatments by 9.4%. Please take a few moments to express your outrage to your Members of Congress. Otherwise, they will assume that the cuts are not harmful. If you would like to express your concern to your members of Congress electronically, simply follow the links in the flyer. If you would like to send a physical letter to your members of Congress contact DPC at [...]
CMS Proposes Devastating Cuts to Dialysis Payments
URGENT: Protect your dialysis care! Urge your Members of Congress to prevent a kidney care crisis! The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) just released a regulation that proposes to reduce Medicare funding for dialysis treatments by 9.4%. The American Taxpayers Relief Act (the fiscal cliff deal) mandated CMS to adjust the price it pays for dialysis to reflect the recent change in usage of certain anemia management drugs. However, no one in the kidney community expected CMS to propose such a dramatic and potentially devastating cut. [...]
California Medicaid Coverage for Nutritional Supplements Restored
The recently-signed 2013-2014 California budget included a full restoration of Medi-Cal coverage for nutritional supplements for dialysis patients. This change will take effect May 1, 2014. Dialysis patients require access to quality care including physician visits, prescription medication, dialysis treatments and a proper nutritional regimen in order to maintain their health and avoid hospitalization. DPC is pleased to see this coverage restored for California's 53,000 dialysis patients.