Activists from across the country gathered on Capitol Hill to advocate on behalf of dialysis patients at DPC's Annual Advocacy Day on June 11, 1019. Advocates represented 26 different states and had over 100 meetings with Members of Congress and their legislative staff. The focus of the Hill discussions centered around preserving access to Charitable Assistance and ensuring access to Medigap for all dialysis patients. Charitable Assistance Charitable Assistance is financial assistance a patient may receive from certain organizations to help with medical bills or premium payments. One out of five individuals with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) use Charitable Assistance. Access [...]

Dialysis Patient Citizens helps patients by working to improve access to care, promote financial security, increase quality of care and advance patient choice. Two leading members of the US Senate Committee on Finance, which oversees the Medicare program, recently raised concerns to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on issues impacting the care of dialysis patients. Many of these items align with our priorities to improve the quality of life for patients with end-stage renal disease. Emphasis was placed on the following dialysis-care issues: better sustainability for new treatment research and innovation the importance of care coordination by strengthening the lines of [...]

The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Alex M. Azar II, discussed the future of kidney health in a speech last month. Azar has a personal connection with the disease as his father had end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and had to go to dialysis multiple times a week. His father was no longer working full-time when the treatment began, making the condition easier to manage. Azar's father later underwent peritoneal dialysis, calling the treatment a "revolutionary change" in his father's lifestyle, and ultimately received a transplant from a living donor. Azar recognizes that his father's experience with ESRD was [...]