Comment Letter Archives - Page 5 of 10 - Dialysis Patient Citizens

Re: Essential Health Benefits – 2017 Benchmark Plans

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:32+00:00September 28th, 2015|Categories: Care Coordination, Comment Letter, Promote Financial Security|Tags: Health Insurance Exchange|

Hon. Kevin Counihan Center for Consumer and Information and Insurance Oversight Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hubert H. Humphrey Building 200 Independence Ave, SW Washington, D.C. 20201 Re: Essential Health Benefits - 2017 Benchmark Plans Dear Deputy Director Counihan: Dialysis Patient Citizens, America’s largest patient-led organization representing dialysis patients, is comprised of more than 28,000 dialysis and pre-dialysis patients and their families. We seek to ensure the patient point of view is considered by policy makers. We are writing to comment on the Agency’s List of Proposed 2017 Essential Health Benefits (EHB) Benchmark Plans. States have four options for [...]

Letter to Oregon Insurance Commissioner Emphasizes Importance of Private Insurance
Gallery

Letter to Oregon Insurance Commissioner Emphasizes Importance of Private Insurance

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:32+00:00September 16th, 2015|Categories: Article, Charitable Premium Assistance, Comment Letter, Improve Access to Care, Promote Financial Security, State Advocacy|Tags: Health Insurance Exchange|

Regence and Moda, two private insurance plans in Oregon, recently made changes to their 2016 plans that would negatively affect ESRD patients. Specifically, after three months of coverage, any out-of-pocket payments patients make for dialysis treatment will no longer count towards their out-of-pocket maximums. This appears to be an effort to pressure dialysis patients to drop their private coverage and enroll in Medicare. DPC’s letter to the Oregon Insurance Commissioner calls attention to this discriminatory move. Medicare plans do not include an out-of-pocket maximum amount, while most private insurance plans do. Statistics also show that patients with Medicare plans are [...]

DPC Comments on 2016 Prospective Payment System and QIP

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:32+00:00September 16th, 2015|Categories: Comment Letter, Quality Incentive Program|

DPC recently sent a comment letter responding to the proposed payment rule for CMS’s Medicare End Stage Renal Disease program. Using responses from our 2015 Patient Survey, our suggestions focus on how CMS can improve on the key issues of payment and quality for patients. On the payment side, we urge CMS to revise its patient-level payment system by focusing on individuals’ experiences, instead of drawing conclusions based off of large amounts of data. Better support of rural facilities and home dialysis is also important, providing more access and opportunity for treatment. On the quality front, we suggest changes be [...]

RE: CMS-1631-P: Physician Fee Schedule

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:32+00:00August 25th, 2015|Categories: Comment Letter, Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage|

August 25, 2015 Andrew Slavitt, Acting Administrator Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Department of Health and Human Services Hubert H. Humphrey Building 200 Independence Avenue SW Washington, D.C. 20201 Dear Mr. Slavitt, Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) appreciates the opportunity to provide the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) with comments on the proposed payment rule for the Medicare End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) program. As America’s largest patient-led organization representing dialysis patients, DPC’s membership consists of more than 28,000 dialysis and pre-dialysis patients and their families. We seek to ensure the patient point of view is considered by [...]

DPC Writes to Montana state official, in support of a proposed rule allowing Medigap open enrollment for Medicare patients under the age of 65 with disabilities or ESRD

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:32+00:00July 9th, 2015|Categories: Comment Letter, Medigap Coverage, State Advocacy|

Brett O’Neill, Attorney Office of the Commissioner of Securities and Insurance Montana State Auditor 840 Helena Ave. Helena, MT 59601 RE: Medicare Supplements – ARM 6.6.507B, .507C, .507E, .511, .511A Dear Mr. O’Neill: As the nation’s largest patient-led organization representing dialysis patients, Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) works to improve the quality of life for all dialysis patients through education and advocacy. On behalf of our membership, and particularly on behalf of the over 750 dialysis patients in Montana, we are writing in support of the proposed rule allowing for open enrollment in Medigap plans for Medicare patients under the age [...]

DPC Urges Arizona to Maintain Medicaid Reimbursement for Dialysis

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:34+00:00February 27th, 2015|Categories: Comment Letter, Medicaid, State Advocacy|

Governor Doug Ducey 1700 West Washington St. Phoenix, AZ 85007 RE: Proposed Cuts to Medicaid Coverage Dear Governor Ducey, As America’s largest patient-led organization representing over 28,000 members, Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) works to improve the quality of life of all dialysis patients through education and advocacy. Dialysis is a life-sustaining care delivered to over 12,400 patients in Arizona who have End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), also known as kidney failure. For those with ESRD, receiving regular dialysis or a kidney transplant are the only treatments that allow patients to continue living. The number of individuals with kidney failure continues to [...]

DPC Elevates Patient Priorities with Medicare Regarding Dialysis Facility Compare Star Ratings

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:34+00:00February 18th, 2015|Categories: 5-Star Ratings, Comment Letter, Quality Incentive Program|

Elena Balovlenkov, R.N. Technical Lead for Dialysis Facility Compare Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 7500 Security Boulevard Mail Stop S3-02-01 Baltimore, MD 21224 Dear Elena: To meet your timeline for raising issues to be brought before the DFC Star Rating TEP, DPC recently conducted a survey of our active patient volunteers asking them to identify priority items for quality measures to be included in both DFC star ratings and the QIP. Per the advice of the Kidney Care Quality Alliance (KCQA) consultant on quality measures, we developed a lengthy list of subjects for measures, and asked patients to choose [...]

DPC Joins Patient Groups in Commenting on the Standardized Readmission Ratio for Dialysis Facilities

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:34+00:00December 22nd, 2014|Categories: Comment Letter, Quality Incentive Program|

DPC’s Request for Correction complaint to CMS Regarding DFC Star Ratings

Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:34+00:00December 2nd, 2014|Categories: 5-Star Ratings, Comment Letter|

Attached is CCSQ’s courtesy copy of the Request for Correction we filed today under the Data Quality Act challenging the methodology to be used in the DFC Star Ratings. The Data Quality Act and the HHS Information Quality Guidelines promulgated pursuant to the Act have been in existence for approximately as long as CMS has collected and reported quality measures. Over the past decade, no stakeholder has ever filed a Request for Correction with CMS pertaining to quality measurements. We take no joy in being the first, but we feel that the circumstances surrounding the formulation of this program—the lack of [...]

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 [...]

Dialysis Patient Citizens

Recent News