In this issue:

New England Journal of Medicine Article Supports Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage Legislation
DPC Patient Advocates Featured in Renal Business Today
DPC Continues to Push for Patient Access in the New Health Insurance Exchanges
DPC Welcomes Tony Barkey
National Kidney Month is Here!
Join Our March Patient Education Call!
March Calendar of Events

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New England Journal of Medicine Article Supports Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage Legislation

Recently, The New England Journal of Medicine, among the world’s most respected medical journals, published an article supporting one of DPC’s top legislative priorities. The article came out in support of a bill currently before Congress that would extend Medicare coverage of immunosuppressive drugs for kidney transplant patients past the current 36 month coverage period.  Currently, after this 3-year period, those not qualified for Medicare due to age or disability are forced to find alternative coverage for these vital medications.  The article supports ensuring lifetime access to these medications as it will save transplant recipients, while reducing the total cost of treating ESRD patients.

The article estimates that extending immunosuppressive drug coverage will save approximately $200 million annually while improving the quality of life of ESRD patients, since transplantation often leads to better health outcomes.  By extending coverage of these drugs, transplantation will become a more financially viable option for many more ESRD patients and will extend the life of countless transplants, since as the article points out, failure of transplanted organs can be a direct result of non-adherence to immunosuppressive drug regimens.

The time is right to add your voice to this critical effort. The Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act of 2011 (S. 1454 and H.R. 2969) needs more co-sponsors and support in Congress. Please visit our Legislative Action Center today to contact your Senators and Representative, urging them to co-sponsor this important legislation!

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DPC Patient Advocates Featured in Renal Business Today

 

The February issue of Renal Business Today featured articles by two DPC patient advocates, DPC Board President Nancy Scott and Patient Ambassador Harriet Prince.

The publication featured an article by Nancy Scott entitled “Patient Education from the Patient Perspective.”  The piece highlights key tips and strategies that facilities can use to better educate dialysis patients.  With health literacy a pervasive problem in the dialysis community, Nancy’s article outlines general best practices for dialysis facilities, the need for well-educated staff members, the benefits technology can bring to education and the importance of focusing on peer-to-peer information sharing.

Renal Business Today also included a “Patient Perspective Column” by DPC Patient Ambassador Harriet Prince from Charlotte, NC.  The column, “The Vital Role Patients Play in Advocacy,” discussed Harriet’s time in Washington, DC as a patient advocate on Capitol Hill during DPC's fly-in last fall and highlighted the need for more patients to add their voice to the cause of increasing awareness about CKD and ESRD.

Congratulations to Nancy and Harriet on their wonderful accomplishments!

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DPC Continues to Push for Patient Access in the New Health Insurance Exchanges

DPC continues its efforts to push for equitable access to private health coverage for dialysis patients in the new health insurance exchanges that are being set up across the country.  In February, DPC teamed up with the American Association of Kidney Patients, American Kidney Fund, National Kidney Foundation and Renal Support Network on an op-ed that was published in The Hill’s Congress Blog. 

The op-ed, entitled “In setting health care reform’s path, we must protect equity in care,” calls on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to take action now to clarify and protect insurance offerings for the nation’s vulnerable kidney patients.

For kidney patients across the country, both the benefits package and state-based exchanges hold great promise for expanding access to care.  As kidney patient representatives, it is our goal to ensure that kidney patients are able to take advantage of these new patient protections and the new simplified marketplace that the exchanges aim to create.  However, due to a possible oversight, there remains confusion as to whether ESRD patients will have the ability to access insurance through the new exchanges so we urge CMS to act now to ensure that dialysis patients have the same access and protections both inside and outside of the exchanges.
 
You can read the full op-ed here.
 

DPC Welcomes Tony Barkey

 

In February, Tony Barkey joined the DPC staff at the new Director of Research and Information.  In his new position, Tony will lead DPC’s research and educational efforts.

Previously, Tony was the Senior Specialist of Public Health Preparedness and Response at the Association of Public Health Laboratories, where he promoted laboratory preparedness issues to local state and federal policy makers and created partnerships with members of the first response and hospital communities.  Tony also brings extensive experience in the fields of teaching, research and clinical practice. 

Born in Daegu, South Korea, Tony graduated from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and completed his Masters of Public Health at Eastern Virginia Medical School.  During his time at Iowa, Tony was on the Iowa Lacrosse Team and remains active today participating in various endurance races. 

We are very excited to have Tony join our team at DPC!

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National Kidney Month is Here!

March is National Kidney Month, and this year March 8 is World Kidney Day (WKD).

As a global kidney health awareness campaign, WKD focuses on the importance of our kidneys and reducing the impact of kidney disease and its associated health problems worldwide. This year’s World Kidney Day theme is “Donate  -  Kidneys for Life  -  Receive,” focusing on the positive outcome of kidney transplantation and the life-saving aspect of organ donation

During the month of March, we encourage you to participate in this important awareness building effort by educating your local community about kidney disease.  There are various ways you can get involved, including holding a kidney disease education event in your community, writing a letter to the editor of your paper, hosting a facility tour for a local politician or doing a DPC membership drive at your facility.  The more information we bring to our communities, the better the chance we have at reducing the number of new people affected by kidney disease!

If you are interested in hosting a National Kidney Month event in your community or if you would like to receive free educational materials for an awareness event, please visit our website at www.dialysispatients.org or contact us toll free at 1-866-877-4242.
 

Join Our March Patient Education Call!

On March 27, 2012 at 2:00PM Eastern (1:00PM Central, 12:00PM Mountain, 11:00AM Pacific), DPC will host a free Patient Education call on practical tips for living on a kidney diet.  Our guest speaker will discuss helpful advice for grocery shopping and recommendations for eating out while sticking to your diet.

This call is open to patients, family members and caregivers.  To receive the call-in information, please RSVP by March 26th by calling DPC toll-free at 1.866.877.4242 or emailing our office at dpc@dialysispatients.org. 
 

March Calendar of Events

DPC is happy to announce its list of activities for the month of March. Please let us know if you have any questions about DPC events or activities, and we hope you enjoy the month!