HOPE Act Signed Into Law
After tireless efforts by DPC and others in the kidney community, President Obama signed the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act into law on November 21, 2013. The HOPE Act was introduced with strong bipartisan support in the House of Representatives by Rep. Lois Capps and Rep. Andy Harris and in the Senate by Sen. Barbara Boxer and Sen. Tom Coburn. The HOPE Act legalizes the research of transplanting HIV positive organs into HIV positive recipients. If this research proves this practice to be effective, the organ supply in the United States could increase by 500 organs per year. Many of these organs [...]
HOPE Act Moves to White House to be Signed into Law
The U.S. Congress took an important step Tuesday evening with House passage of the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act, which will allow research on donation of organs from deceased HIV-infected donors to HIV-infected recipients. Having been passed by the Senate in June, the bill is now positioned to move to the White House to be signed into law. The HOPE Act modernizes outdated federal law to reflect the current medical understanding of HIV infection and to allow for scientific research. For patients living with HIV, deceased donors with the same infection represent a unique source of organs. Passage of [...]
OPTN/UNOS Approves New Deceased Donor Kidney Allocation Policy
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 [...]
Dialysis Advocates Praise Introduction of Kidney Transplant Drug Access Legislation
Urge Support for the Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act of 2013 (Washington, DC) – In honor of National Kidney Month, dialysis patient advocates praised the introduction of the Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act of 2013 (S.323/H.R. 1325). This vital legislation will extend anti-rejection drug coverage for kidney transplant patients under the age of 65 beyond the current three year period. The bill would ensure transplant patients receive the necessary medications to maximize the life of the donated organ while using our limited federal resources more efficiently. “While receiving a kidney transplant is a [...]
Congressional Corner: Two Transplant Bills Introduced in Congress
By Carrie L., Director of Congressional and State Relations Recently, two bills relating to kidney and organ transplants have been introduced in Congress. Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois and Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi introduced the Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act of 2013 (S. 323) in the Senate, and Congressman Michael Burgess and Congressman Ron Kind introduced a companion bill (H.R. 1325) in the House. If passed, these bills will extend Medicare immunosuppressive drug coverage for kidney transplant patients under 65 years old for the life of the graft. Under current law, Medicare beneficiaries who are [...]
Changes are Coming to Kidney Transplant Allocation Policies
By Jessica N., Director of Public Affairs When DPC weighs in on policy proposals, we aim to speak on behalf of the people that we represent. This means that periodically we look to all of you to let us know how you feel about certain changes and how you think they will affect your care…and this is one of those times. Recently, the Organ Procurement Transplant Network (OPTN) and United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) released a proposal to change the way kidney transplants are allocated. The proposal makes several key modifications to current policy that could have an impact [...]
Health Reform Implementation Continues at the State Level
By Carrie L., Director of Congressional and State Relations I have the unenviable job of trying to make state health reform both easy to understand and interesting, but I have given it my best shot. In this article I will be discussing two topics that are important for kidney disease patients, essential health benefit benchmark plans and the formation of state-based health insurance exchanges. State governments and health reform boards have been busy over the past couple of months determining how they will deal with implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in their states. Deadlines have come and gone for [...]
DPC Urges Nevada Commission of Insurance to Not Make Cuts for Patients’ Modality, Transportation, Care and Treatment
Scott J. Kipper Commissioner of Insurance State of Nevada 1818 E. College Parkway, Suite 103 Carson City, NV 89706 Dear Commissioner Kipper: As America’s largest patient-led organization representing dialysis patients, Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) works to improve the quality of life of all dialysis patients through education and advocacy. Today we are writing on behalf of the nearly 3,000 dialysis patients in Nevada to make sure that their health and interests are represented in the State’s essential health benefits plan. DPC is committed to improving patient health and quality of life and to that end, there are several important benefits [...]
Dialysis Patient Citizens’ Patient Advocates Storm Capitol Hill
Participants met with Members of Congress to Discuss Extending Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Transplant Patients, Deficit Reduction Efforts (Washington, DC) – Last week, patient advocates with Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) traveled to Washington, DC to meet with their Members of Congress and discuss legislative issues important to the 31 million Americans with chronic kidney disease. Participants from 21 states came to the nation’s capital for a multi-day trip that included a congressional briefing, training session and culminated in a day of meetings on Capitol Hill. DPC, the nation’s largest patient-led dialysis organization, organized the event in an effort to raise awareness [...]