Changes to Medicare’s Payment for Dialysis will Impact Patients

Many of you may have been following the discussions and policy making around Medicare’s “bundling” of dialysis reimbursement.  However, even if you have not it is important to know how the changes in Medicare payments to dialysis clinics will impact both the way patients receive care and how it could increase patients’ financial responsibilities.  On July 24th the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released their final rule on how they will pay dialysis providers and what will be included in that bundled payment.  CMS responded favorably to many of the comments DPC and other patient organizations submitted on their initial proposal.  One such example is CMS created a list of lab tests that will be included in the bundled payment.  Anything outside of this list will be paid for separately – allowing for non-dialysis related labs to be drawn in dialysis facilities.  Another favorable inclusion is the delay of including oral medications that do not have an injectable equivalent, such as phosphorous binders, in the bundle until 2014. This allows CMS to further study how including these medications will impact patients.   Additionally, CMS added a separate payment for home dialysis training to encourage more providers to offer this option to patients.  CMS also made a commitment to develop a monitoring system to track how changes in payment impact clinical practices and patients’ quality care. 

While the final rule is much better for patients than the proposed rule, there are still many areas where patients could have a greater financial responsibility or experience changes in the delivery of their care.  Patients may begin noticing changes to their care and cost sharing as early as January 1, 2011. Every dialysis clinic will be required to fully operate under the new payment system January 1, 2014. 

>Medicare Changes

Emergency Preparedness Patient Education Call

Our quarterly Patient Education call will be held via telephone conference on Tuesday August 24th beginning at 2:00PM Eastern (11:00 AM Pacific/Arizona, 12:00 PM Mountain, 1:00 PM Central).

The topic of the call is “Emergency Preparedness,” with guest speaker Sherilyn Burris, MPA, CEM.  To RSVP, please email Ben Wislinski or call 1-866-877-4242. You will receive call-in information after you RSVP.  We hope to hear from you on the call.

Kidney Organizations Create Anemia Resource

Key kidney care organizations have banded together to create an anemia education resource that will be made available at no charge to kidney patients and their physicians.

Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC), along with the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), American Kidney Foundation (AKF), National Kidney Foundation (NKF), Renal Physicians Association (RPA) and Renal Support Network (RSN), developed the “Treating Anemia” education supplement to help patients work with their doctors to identify anemia’s symptoms, discuss the various treatment options available and monitor red blood cell counts together.

Topics included in the anemia management resource include the importance of treating anemia, erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) and other anemia treatments, questions for patients to ask and a table for patients to reference in tracking their anemia management with their doctor.

>Download a copy of “Treating Anemia” or contact DPC at 1.866.877.4242 for copies.

DPC Board Member's Commitment to Home Dialysis

Beverly Schroeder has not been one to let her kidney failure get in the way of life.  At 76 years old, “Bev” is more active than most people half her age.   In her earlier years Bev devoted her career to public service, working for the Social Security Administration and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.  After having children, Bev decided to stay at home, but she continued to devote much of her time to volunteering for a domestic violence hotline, working with abused children and doing other various volunteer activities. 

When Bev developed kidney failure in 2004 due to complications with diabetes, she chose peritoneal dialysis (PD) because it gave her the power to take control of her own treatments as well as the flexibility to continue volunteering, including serving as a Patient Ambassador, Board Member for the past four years and now Board Secretary for DPC.  While on PD, Bev continued with her busy volunteer schedule speaking in community churches and at other organizations to raise awareness about kidney disease and educate others who may be at risk, among other activities.  Bev is also presently the primary caretaker of her husband Jack who is battling his own health issues. 

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