State legislators in California continue to consider legislation, which we believe would harm dialysis patients by ultimately limiting their access to their life-saving treatment.
News
July 16, 2018
Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed what they called “innovative changes” to the payment rule for the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) program. The rule includes a “proposal to address new renal dialysis drug and biological costs and foster innovations in treatment by incentivizing new therapies for patients on dialysis and a proposal to reduce facility-related documentation burden.” It contains the first changes to the ESRD Quality Incentive Program (QIP) since last year’s announcement of CMS’ “Meaningful Measures” Initiative.
July 13, 2018
Recent research and journalism has highlighted significant variations in the ability of regional Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) to obtain donor organs for transplants. An analysis by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania rated 35 of 58 OPOs, and identified the best performers among them the OPOs serving Utah and Southern Idaho; Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Delaware; the Finger Lakes region of New York; Wisconsin; and Nebraska. The poorest performing were those serving the New York City region; Southern California; Kentucky; and North Carolina. The New York City OPO’s poor performance was highlighted in a New York Times article last week.
April 10, 2018
This year World Kidney Day was also on International Women’s day. Global organizers took this as an opportunity to focus on women’s health and kidney disease. It’s only appropriate that we feature three courageous women who shared their story with media to spread awareness of kidney disease.
April 10, 2018
Kidney Month has passed yet the coverage on kidney health is continuing well into April. DPC is pleased to report the publication of several letters to the editor in response to our advocacy day in support of the Dialysis PATIENTS Act. Our advocates have been published in the states of Washington, Alabama, Kansas and New Hampshire with many more pending publication. This continued media coverage is a great step toward moving this legislation across the finish line to help countless dialysis patients across the country.
April 10, 2018
It was a cold and rainy Tuesday, when dialysis patients, family members and healthcare providers descended on Capitol Hill to meet with legislators about expanding coordinated care efforts. This was a record setting year for the advocacy day, beginning with the application process which saw over 150 applicants and ending with the number of meetings held, 142. This was the largest patient advocacy day DPC has hosted since September 2013 in response to the drastic proposed funding cuts for dialysis.
February 9, 2018
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Advocates for dialysis patients are pleased that the federal spending bill which funds the government through March 23rd includes several provisions that will help people with kidney failure, or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), gain access to life-extending dialysis treatments.
January 11, 2018
Before the holidays, we opened our application for our 2018 advocacy day. It is apparent that advocacy is part of many ESRD patients’ New Year’s resolutions because we received almost 150 applications to attend our advocacy day! This is a record number of interested members willing to have their voice heard by legislators on behalf of ESRD patients across the nation. If you missed the deadline, but advocacy is still a part of your New Year’s resolutions there are still ways to get involved!
January 11, 2018
It’s a New Year but our work to expand integrated care is far from complete! The Dialysis PATIENTS Act has soared to 142 co-sponsors which is more than double the number of co-sponsors for the previous version of this legislation in 2016. This overwhelming support, coupled with recent data on the success of the ESRD Seamless Care Organizations signals the readiness to expand integrated care programs for dialysis patients nationwide. If you haven’t sent messages to your Members of Congress, there is still time!
July 28, 2017
Earlier this year, ESRD patients in Pennsylvania began to receive notices that Independence Blue Cross (IBC) would no longer accept their premium payments if they received charitable assistance from the American Kidney Fund (AKF). In May, Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of dialysis patients to challenge IBC’s rejection of charitable premium support. DPC asked the court to issue an emergency injunction that would force IBC to accept premium payments made with assistance from AKF.
