Hannah Bracamonte, Author at Dialysis Patient Citizens

Insights with Jack: Reflections on Thanksgiving

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:34+00:00November 22nd, 2014|Categories: Patient's Voice|

By Jack Reynolds, DPC Board Member and Patient Ambassador My Grandma Mae lived to be 96 and she had a saying, “One has to learn how to suffer." I think what she really meant was that a person must learn how to handle or manage their suffering whether it be physical, mental, or emotional. Over time most ESRD patients are confronted with a host of these challenges or sufferings. Frankly, I have been spared many of the hospitalizations and complications that many dialysis patients experience. For example, I have a right lower-arm fistula that I have used as my dialysis access [...]

Prior Authorization of Non-Emergency Ambulance Transportation to Begin for Dialysis Patients in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and South Carolina

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:34+00:00November 13th, 2014|Categories: State Advocacy, Transportation Services|

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin implementing a prior authorization demonstration program for non-emergent ambulance transport of dialysis patients in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. CMS believes using a prior authorization process will help ensure services are provided in compliance with Medicare coverage rules, specifically that ambulance providers in those states must obtain documentation from physicians prior to the beginning of service. The requirement does not apply to hospital-based ambulances. CMS is taking these actions in response to instances of fraud in those three states. For example, one Pennsylvania fraud scheme involved more than $3.6 [...]

Election Results Shouldn’t Affect ESRD Program, But New Members of Congress Need to be Educated on Medicare’s Role

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:35+00:00November 13th, 2014|Categories: Article, Take Action|

Republicans gained control of the U.S. Senate in last week's elections, but this change is not expected to affect Congressional policymaking on dialysis issues. While some health care issues involve contentious partisan bickering, historically the nuts-and-bolts, day-to-day operations of the Medicare program have been managed on a bipartisan basis by Congress' professional staff members, overseen by Congressional committee chairs with expertise on Medicare. What will be different is that many new Members of Congress will take office in January who do not have experience with Medicare or ESRD issues. At least five new Senators and fifty new House Members will take [...]

New Dialysis Quality Rules May Bring Small but Noticeable Changes to Your Care

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:35+00:00November 13th, 2014|Categories: Article, Quality Incentive Program|

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently finalized the payment rule for the Medicare End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) program for 2015. Payment rates will stay the same next year. However, changes to the Quality Improvement Program (QIP) system of "pay for performance" are intended to prioritize new aspects of care for ESRD patients; providers are graded on each element of the "QIP" and receive payment reductions if they don't meet Medicare's standard. This means that providers are expected to add emphasis to these new areas in their interactions with patients. Here are some of the new areas being [...]

Insights with Jack: Who Do You Rely On?

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:35+00:00October 2nd, 2014|Categories: Patient's Voice|

By Jack Reynolds, DPC Board Member and Patient Ambassador This Christmas of 2014, I will have completed four decades of in-center hemodialysis. As this amount of time surviving with a kidney machine as a life partner is fairly rare, I feel that it would be a good idea to discuss or maybe vent my soul about my experience as a dialysis citizen and how it has affected my outlook on life. I plan to keep my blogs fairly short and to only touch on one or two points of interest or boredom, as the case may be, for anyone who reads [...]

CMS Responses to Questions and Comments about the Dialysis Facility Compare Star Rating System

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:35+00:00October 1st, 2014|Categories: 5-Star Ratings, Comment Letter|

CMS thanks the community for their comments and questions about the DFC Star Rating System. All comments have been given serious consideration. This document provides responses to the questions and issues raised by the ESRD community. CMS believes that the Star Rating System will empower consumers with additional quality information. It will also encourage providers to continuously achieve higher quality care. With future releases and enhancements to the DFC website, we will continue fostering an open dialogue to facilitate providing better care for all patients receiving chronic dialysis. We look forward to working with the ESRD community over the coming months [...]

Response Memo: FAQs Regarding Medicare and the Health Insurance Marketplace

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:35+00:00September 24th, 2014|Categories: Comment Letter, Promote Financial Security|Tags: Health Insurance Exchange|

To: James Canavan, Center for Medicare, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Spencer Manasse, Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, CMS Vicki Gottlich, Administration for Community Living Gene Coffey, Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, CMS Janet Miller, Office of Communications, CMS Sharon Donovan, Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office, CMS Re: Comments on “Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Medicare and the Marketplace” We appreciate that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Administration for Community Living (ACL) arranged a July meeting for beneficiary advocates to discuss our questions and concerns related to beneficiary transitions from coverage options created under [...]

Statement of Dialysis Patient Citizens on CMS Announcement of Delay in Implementing Star Ratings for Dialysis Facility Compare Website

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:08:04+00:00September 10th, 2014|Categories: 5-Star Ratings, Article|

Today, Dialysis Patient Citizens received a notice from CMS announcing a three-month delay in implementing its Star Ratings Program for the Dialysis Facility Compare website. Contrary to CMS’ announcement, a delay alone is not responsive to the concerns expressed by stakeholders and certainly not to those expressed by DPC. While CMS said it was “partnering with the ESRD community,” it has instead declined to consider input on how to design patient-friendly ratings, and ignored DPC’s requests to see consumer testing materials and the geographic distribution of star assignments. We believe that CMS’ methodology which gives thirty percent of dialysis facilities the [...]

DPC Submits Comments on this Year’s Medicare ESRD Payment Rule

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:08:04+00:00September 4th, 2014|Categories: Article, Dialysis Funding, Quality Incentive Program|

In late August, DPC submitted comments to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on its payment-setting rule for dialysis facilities in 2015. The rule keeps next year’s payments for dialysis level with this year’s, following a mandate from Congress, but makes some changes to the ESRD Quality Incentive Program (“QIP”) that reduces payments to the lowest-performing facilities. Here are highlights of proposed changes along with DPC’s commentary: Patient Satisfaction Survey Scores To Count Toward QIP Payment Reductions: For several years now, dialysis facilities have administered the “CAHPS” survey of patient experience to patients. However, under current regulations, dialysis facilities [...]

DPC Mourns the Loss of Previous Board Members

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:08:04+00:00September 3rd, 2014|Categories: Article, Board Members|

DPC was saddened to learn of the recent passing of two of our previous board members, Robert (Bob) Mize and William (Bill) Litchfield. Robert Mize was one of three patients who served as a founding board member. He was instrumental in laying the groundwork for the successful advocacy and education programs we produce today. He frequently made trips to Washington, D.C. to elevate the patient voice and his dedication to promoting kidney disease awareness and education will surely be missed. Robert Mize on the steps of the Supreme Court. William Litchfield also served on the board of DPC [...]

About Hannah Bracamonte

Dialysis Patient Citizens

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