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Advocacy Day Insights and Action Alerts During June’s Patient Ambassador Call

2024-03-29T01:13:34+00:00May 29th, 2019|Categories: Uncategorized|

Join us next month on June 20th at 2:00 pm ET for our upcoming Patient Ambassador call. We will have special guest speakers to discuss the inside scoop learned during DPC's fly-in and the actions you can take to help kidney patients. Please RSVP to let us know you can attend the call. Learn more about our Patient Ambassador program. Call Details are below: Date: Thursday, June 20, 2019 Time: 2:00 PM ET, 1:00 PM CT, 12:00 PM MT, 11:00 AM PT Follow these instructions at the time of the call: Join Online: https://dialysispatients.adobeconnect.com/patient-ambassador-call/ Call: 1-877-399-5186 Enter Meeting Code: 269 743 2061 Mute/Unmute: *6/#6 Thank you for elevating [...]

How Medicare Can Improve Dialysis Patient Quality of Life

2024-03-29T01:13:35+00:00May 13th, 2019|Categories: Uncategorized|

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 [...]

Help DPC Protect Dialysis Access in Oregon, Illinois and California

2024-03-29T01:13:35+00:00April 18th, 2019|Categories: State Advocacy, Uncategorized|

Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) continues to work hard protecting dialysis patients by opposing three bills that would threaten access to quality care if passed. More than 468,000 Americans rely on dialysis treatments to stay alive. Unfortunately, this access to treatment is being threatened with three bills, which may disrupt the provider network dialysis patients rely on and lower the quality of care they depend on. These bills are: Senate Bill 900 – Oregon Senate Bill 650 – Illinois Assembly Bill 290 – California Specifically, we are concerned that these bills will cut reimbursement rates private insurance companies pay to cover dialysis care. [...]

How the Government is Combatting Kidney Disease in the United States

2024-03-29T01:13:35+00:00April 10th, 2019|Categories: Uncategorized|

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 [...]

Action Alert – DPC Supports Expanding Access to Organ Transplants in California

2024-03-29T01:13:35+00:00March 27th, 2019|Categories: State Advocacy, Uncategorized|

Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) continues its efforts to improve the quality of life for dialysis patients by advocating for an assembly bill in California that would expand access to organ transplants. Danny Iniguez, Secretary of DPC's Board of Directors and a resident of California, expressed the importance of passing Assembly Bill 1223 by highlighting the positive impact on both patients and organ donors and sharing his childhood experience with kidney failure. Starting at age 12 Iniguez was on and off dialysis as a result of a bicycle accident and had to wait over 10 years to receive a kidney transplant. [...]

Archive of CMS Contractors’ Reports

2024-03-29T01:50:28+00:00September 23rd, 2016|Categories: 5-Star Ratings, Article, Uncategorized|

Health Care Quality Measures and Transparency  Pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by DPC in 2015, we present here a number of research reports from CMS contractors on health care quality measures and transparency. The link below takes you to a 208-page PDF document produced by CMS in response to the FOIA. Below is a list of the seven reports in the PDF, along with the authoring organization and PDF page numbers at which each individual report begins. FOIA Request File Quality Measures Survey 2014 Aeffect p.2 Quality Compare Environmental Scan KRC Research August 1, 2012 p.16 [...]

DPC Encourages Participation in National Kidney Month Awareness

2024-03-29T01:50:30+00:00March 10th, 2016|Categories: Article, Charitable Premium Assistance, Dialysis Funding, Get Involved, Take Action, Transplant Donor Protection, Uncategorized|

March is National Kidney Month, which provides you with the perfect opportunity to spread awareness by educating your community and your legislators about kidney disease and the importance of kidney health. You can find educational information on the website of our sister organization, the DPC Education Center to share with your family and community. Additionally, we can provide promotional materials for any awareness events you plan to hold in March. To request materials such as pens and squeezable kidneys, visit our materials request page or call us at 1-866-877-4242. On the legislative front, you can ask your member of Congress to [...]

Open Enrollment Begins For 2016 Insurance Coverage

2024-03-29T01:50:31+00:00November 9th, 2015|Categories: Article, Uncategorized|

This week begins the open enrollment period for 2016 coverage. The health insurance marketplace lists coverage options for patients who do not have an insurance plan through an employer, Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), or a private plan. Enrollment can be done by phone, online, through a paper application and in person. Open enrollment will run through January 31, 2016.

Report Finds Star Rating System Does Not Follow Federal Guidelines

2024-03-29T01:50:32+00:00August 14th, 2015|Categories: 5-Star Ratings, Article, Uncategorized|

The Medicare five-star rating system, maintained by the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services’ (CMS), has recently come under scrutiny by the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE). In a letter from last month, CRE officials report that multiple entities have contacted them about the system possibly violating federal regulations. According to the letter, data from the rating system helps in determining rebates, eligibility and bonuses for patients.  Current law requires this information be posted on a federal register to receive comments from stakeholders.  CRE officials found CMS has instead been posting the information on their website and providing only summaries of comments. [...]

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