You’re Invited to DPC’s Michigan Dialysis Summit

DPC, in association with DaVita Dialysis and Sanford-Brown College Dearborn, will host a Michigan Dialysis Summit on August 12, 2011 from 9:30am to 11:30am at the Sanford-Brown College Dearborn Campus. The community-wide event will focus on raising awareness about chronic kidney disease (CKD) and the 12,500 Michigan residents who suffer from end stage renal disease (ESRD).

The event will feature Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (MI-14) who will give a public policy update and discuss the state of our health care system. DPC Patient Ambassador Julia Herzog will share her personal experiences as an ESRD patient and Dr. Robert Provenzano, MD, FACP, FASN, Vice President of Medical Affairs at DaVita, will discuss clinical advances in kidney disease treatment.

All Michigan DPC patients, family members, friends and neighbors are encouraged to join us! The event begins at 9:30am with a complimentary breakfast followed by our amazing line up of speakers. 

>If you are interested in attending the event, please register in advance or call DPC at 1-866-877-4242. 

Changes to the ESRD Quality Incentive Program

Last month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) released a proposed rule on the ESRD Quality Incentive Program (QIP). The new regulation, released July 1, is meant to update Medicare polices and payment rates for dialysis facilities and strengthen incentives for improved quality of care and better outcomes for beneficiaries. 

While the proposed rule would make several changes to the Medicare ESRD program, DPC’s greatest concern is the proposed elimination of the quality measure for  anemia management of hemoglobin less than 10 grams per deciliter (the greater than 12 g/dL measure would remain in the QIP). CMS states that the proposal to retire the less than 10 measure is in an effort to remain consistent with the recent changes to the Food and Drug Administration label for epogen. DPC wants to ensure that, even if this measure is removed from payment consideration, appropriate hemoglobin measures remain in the QIP for reporting, to enable patients to monitor how any changes impact their quality of life. DPC is also troubled by the lack of timeliness of data reporting in the QIP and the negative effect this will have on accurately and appropriately measuring patient outcomes in dialysis centers. We are currently working with other patient groups and the kidney community as a whole to ensure that CMS protects patient access and rewards high quality care that improves patients’ lives.

DPC will be submitting official comments to CMS this later month. 

>If you would like to provide your perspective on the issue, please contact us by email at dpc@dialysispatients.com or call 1-866-877-4242.

DPC Continues Fight for Health Insurance Reform Protections

As part of DPC’s on-going efforts to ensure dialysis patients are protected in the new state-based health insurance exchanges, we recently joined a coalition of consumer groups who are also working to retain the consumer protections in Association Health Plans.

Last month, DPC joined several consumer groups at a meeting with the White House and the Departments of Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services. DPC wanted to ensure that the Affordable Care Act would not roll back critical consumer protections currently in place in Association Health Plans. From DPC’s perspective, the most important issue is the retention of “essential benefits” protections in these plans, such as dialysis and transplantation. The meeting was a productive one, with officials from the Administration thanking us for bringing the issue to their attention and pledging their commitment to ensure our concerns are incorporated into future rules implementing the health reform law. 

In conjunction with the meeting, DPC and the consumer coalition also sent a joint letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius outlining our concerns and urging increased consumer protections. 

>Read the consumer coalition letter

Reminder: Congressional Recess Begins Aug 8

On Monday, August 8, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate leave Washington, DC for their summer recess. This means Representatives and Senators are back in their home districts for four weeks, attending local events and meeting with constituents. This is a perfect time to contact your legislators and invite them to tour your dialysis facility. Seeing a dialysis facility first hand and meeting patients and renal professionals helps policy makers understand the unique needs of dialysis patients. 

If your Members of Congress are unable to come to your facility, there may be other opportunities for you to meet them. You can ask to schedule a meeting in their local district offices or see if they are hosting events in the community that are open to public, such as town halls. 

The month of August is a great time to meet your Members of Congress while they are in your home town and we encourage all DPC members to try and schedule a meeting! 

>If you would like help reaching out to your Members of Congress, please call DPC at 1-866-877-4242 and we would be happy to assist you.