Hannah Bracamonte, Author at Dialysis Patient Citizens

CMS Proposes Devastating Cuts to Dialysis Payments
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CMS Proposes Devastating Cuts to Dialysis Payments

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:08:57+00:00July 19th, 2013|Categories: Article, Dialysis Funding, Take Action|

URGENT: Protect your dialysis care! Urge your Members of Congress to prevent a kidney care crisis! The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) just released a regulation that proposes to reduce Medicare funding for dialysis treatments by 9.4%. The American Taxpayers Relief Act (the fiscal cliff deal) mandated CMS to adjust the price it pays for dialysis to reflect the recent change in usage of certain anemia management drugs. However, no one in the kidney community expected CMS to propose such a dramatic and potentially devastating cut. Please take a few moments to express your outrage to your Members of [...]

California Medicaid Coverage for Nutritional Supplements Restored
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California Medicaid Coverage for Nutritional Supplements Restored

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:08:57+00:00July 19th, 2013|Categories: Article, Improve Access to Care, State Advocacy|

The recently-signed 2013-2014 California budget included a full restoration of Medi-Cal coverage for nutritional supplements for dialysis patients. This change will take effect May 1, 2014. Dialysis patients require access to quality care including physician visits, prescription medication, dialysis treatments and a proper nutritional regimen in order to maintain their health and avoid hospitalization. DPC is pleased to see this coverage restored for California's 53,000 dialysis patients.

DPC Welcomes New Government Affairs Director

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:08:57+00:00July 19th, 2013|Categories: Article, Staff|

Join us in welcoming our new Government Affairs Director Jackson Williams. Hailing originally from Chicago, Jackson brings with him an impressive list of advanced degrees including: a Bachelor's degree in political science, a Juris Doctor, a Master's of Public Administration along with Ph.D. coursework in public policy analysis. Jackson has taught law and health politics at several colleges and universities. He couples his impressive educational background with extensive real world professional experience. Jackson actually just left the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation in order to help us further elevate the kidney patient voice. Previously he served as a Senior [...]

OPTN/UNOS Approves New Deceased Donor Kidney Allocation Policy
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OPTN/UNOS Approves New Deceased Donor Kidney Allocation Policy

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:08:57+00:00July 19th, 2013|Categories: Access to Transplant, Article|

The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) board approved a new kidney allocation policy that will substantially change the way deceased donor kidneys are distributed. Many components of the policy will benefit dialysis patients greatly. For example, measuring wait times from the initiation of dialysis will improve access to transplants for those patients who do not receive crucial kidney transplant education. The prior system measured wait times from when the patient signed up for a transplant. The new system will help those who are on dialysis longer get transplants sooner. DPC also supports improving [...]

AST Testimony on H.R. 1428

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:08:58+00:00June 28th, 2013|Categories: Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage, Other Links|

DPC Joins Kidney Community in Requesting Meeting with CMS on ESCOs

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:08:58+00:00June 26th, 2013|Categories: Care Coordination, Comment Letter, Innovation|

Dear Ms. Tavenner and Dr. Gilfillan: On behalf of the undersigned organizations, thank you for your leadership of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). Together, our organizations represent the patients, physicians, nurses, scientists, and other health professionals dedicated to advancing excellence in the care of patients with kidney disease. Foremost among our shared goals is continuous improvement in the quality, efficiency, and accessibility of care available to patients with kidney disease. Our organizations applaud the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the CMS Innovation Center’s establishment of [...]

Exciting Changes at DPC
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Exciting Changes at DPC

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:08:58+00:00June 6th, 2013|Categories: Blog, Staff|

By Hrant J., DPC Executive Director With the creation of the DPC Education Center, it became increasingly apparent that Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) needed to do some internal realignment of its staff. Our goals for this process were to ensure: 1) we maximize DPC’s limited resources, 2) we secure the sustainability of the DPC Education Center, and 3) we continue to prioritize our advocacy efforts and the work we do to elevate the patient voice with policy makers. As a result, I am pleased to announce that DPC has hired a Government Affairs Director. Since his departure from the Center [...]

DPC Thanks CMS for Reducing Transition Adjuster to Zero

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:08:58+00:00June 1st, 2013|Categories: Comment Letter, Dialysis Funding|

Inside the Intern’s Mind – Goodbye for now!

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T02:08:58+00:00May 3rd, 2013|Categories: Blog|

By Megan S., Education Intern I am in my final day here at DPC, and I wanted to post my last blog before I move on. I can’t believe how fast time has flown. It seems surreal that I have spent about 3 months here and that I will be graduating from college in just two weeks. First, I would just like to personally thank my supervisor, Tony, for granting me this amazing opportunity. Your guidance and supervision throughout my experience was more than I could have expected. I want to thank you for the time you spent with me discussing [...]