Dialysis Patient Citizens News
Pictures for DPC’s 2019 Advocacy Day Are Here!
Advocates spent a day of training getting up to speed on the latest legislation impacting the kidney community, which included presentations by Representative Donald Payne Jr. and DPC CEO Hrant Jamgochian. A rooftop reception followed where advocates strategized about the next day's meetings on Capitol Hill. The event culminated with over 100 meetings with lawmakers and their legislative staff about improving dialysis patient care. Below are the photos from DPC's Advocacy Day: If you are interested in making a difference in your community by elevating the voice [...]
Congressman Donald Payne Jr. Advocates for Dialysis Patients
Congressman Donald Payne Jr. is a Representative for New Jersey's 10th congressional district. He has end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and receives in-center dialysis treatment multiple times a week. Payne spoke with advocates during DPC's 2019 Annual Fly-In about his experience with dialysis and the efforts he is taking to elevate the patient voice. Payne's incidence with kidney failure is similar to the stories shared by thousands of people on dialysis. The progression of his diabetes led to the decline in his kidney function, and Payne speaks openly about [...]
DPC Rallies Over 60 Advocates on Capitol Hill
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 [...]
Advocacy Day Insights and Action Alerts During June’s Patient Ambassador Call
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: [...]
DPC Advocates for New Treatment Research and Innovations
Dialysis Patient Citizens continues to work hard advocating to increase quality of care for patients. We are supporting a house bill that encourages research and innovations to provide patients with hope and new treatment options. This is an important issue because there has been little progress made in treatment for dialysis patients when compared to other diseases. In addition, advances in dialysis care could astronomically improve the lives of millions of Americans with kidney disease. We will continue to work hard to improve the dialysis patient quality of life [...]
How Medicare Can Improve Dialysis Patient Quality of Life
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 [...]
DPC’s Letter to the California Assembly About Quality Ratings
Assembly Member Jim Wood Chair Committee on Health State Capitol, Room 6005 Sacramento, CA 95814 Assembly Member Chad Mayes Vice Chair Committee on Health State Capitol, Room 6005 Sacramento, CA 95814 Re: Support for AB 1448 Dear Chairman Wood and Vice Chairman Mayes: With 32,000 dialysis patient members, over 4,000 of whom reside in California, Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) is the nation’s largest patient-led organization representing individuals with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). On behalf of California’s 70,000 ESRD patients and the [...]
Help DPC Protect Dialysis Access in Oregon, Illinois and California
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 [...]
How the Government is Combatting Kidney Disease in the United States
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 [...]
Take Action to Protect Dialysis Access in Oregon
Receiving dialysis treatment three times a week is critical for the survival of the 6,000 patients in Oregon with End-Stage Renal Disease, or kidney failure. Unfortunately, this access to treatment is being threatened with Senate Bill 900, which may disrupt the provider network dialysis patients rely on and lower the quality of care they depend on. Specifically, we are concerned that SB 900 will cut reimbursement rates private insurance companies pay to cover dialysis care. These reimbursement rates are crucial to dialysis facilities because Medicare does not [...]
Action Alert – DPC Supports Expanding Access to Organ Transplants in California
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 [...]
Kidney Community Blocks Threats to Charitable Assistance and Dialysis Funding in California
By Megan Hashbarger, Director of Congressional and State Relations, Dialysis Patient Citizens Dialysis Patients Citizen’s (DPC) mission is to improve dialysis citizens’ quality of life. As a result, we have played an important role in increasing patient access to: health insurance coverage, care coordination, medications and innovative therapies. While we work hard to improve public policies for patients, sometimes we are put on defense to protect our previous hard-fought victories. One of the most important tools for protecting patient choice and access to insurance coverage is the [...]
Insights from the Dialysis Patient Citizens 2018 Patient Survey: Patients’ Priorities for Quality Measures and New Innovations in ESRD Care
By Jackson Williams, Director of Regulatory Affairs and General Counsel, Dialysis Patient Citizens Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) thanks everyone who completed its 2018 Patient Survey. It is another way to make your voices heard. We use our patient survey to get your input on current issues and to convey your opinions to policymakers in Washington, DC. This year, our survey included questions on two recent developments in Washington: Medicare’s “Meaningful Measures” Initiative: In early 2018, Medicare officials announced plans to reduce the number of quality measures it [...]
Advocacy Day application deadline is THURSDAY
As a reminder, the Advocacy Day application deadline is Thursday, February 28. If you haven't already applied, please consider doing so. We are very fortunate that we are able to bring dialysis patients to Washington, D.C. each year to meet with their elected officials. This provides advocates like you with the unique opportunity to make your voice heard on behalf of dialysis patients from your state in order to improve dialysis care. This year is no exception. We will meet with Members of Congress and their staff on [...]
2018 Midterm Election Wrap-Up
By Megan Hashbarger, Director of Congressional and State Relations, Dialysis Patient Citizens This past November, America held its 2018 midterm elections. We call it a midterm election because it is held between the four-year cycle of Presidential elections and is often seen as a reflection of the country’s temperament towards the President’s agenda. This cycle saw big wins for Democrats but also some solid victories for Republicans. While Democrats picked up over 40 seats and retook the majority in the House, Republicans held on to and increased [...]
Assembly Bill 290 Threatens Dialysis Quality and Access for Patients Living in California
Receiving dialysis treatment three times a week is critical to survival for the 70,000 patients in California with End-Stage Renal Disease, or kidney failure. Unfortunately, this access to treatment is being threatened with California Assembly Bill 290 (Woods), which may disrupt the provider network dialysis patients rely on and lower the quality of care they depend on. This legislation is similar to Senate Bill 1156, which was defeated by dialysis patients and vetoed by California Governor Jerry Brown last year. Specifically, we are concerned that AB 290 will cut [...]
NIH Seeks Volunteers to Help Cure Diseases and Solve Health Problems
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is looking for volunteers to participate in the All of Us program, which is a research initiative that tracks the health of U.S. participants. The initiative is not centered around a specific disease or population. Instead, it is intended to accelerate research and improve a large assortment of health conditions by evaluating the impact of lifestyle, environment and biological makeup on health and disease. Participants may elect to help by filling out surveys, sharing electronic health records, getting a physical, sharing [...]
DPC’s Advocacy Day Application is NOW OPEN!
As highlighted last month, Dialysis Patient Citizens would like to reiterate our gratitude for all of your efforts to elevate the patient voice with policy makers in 2018. To say thanks, we would like to invite you to apply for our 2019 Advocacy Day! We are very fortunate that we are able to bring dialysis patients to Washington, D.C. each year to meet with their elected officials. This provides advocates like you with the unique opportunity to make your voice heard on behalf of dialysis patients from your state [...]
Getting to Know Your Members of Congress
DPC Board Member Andrew Conkling with Alabama Representative Gary Palmer Part of the responsibility of advocating for your health is getting informed about and building relationships with your local lawmakers. The 2018 midterm elections brought in more than 100 new Representatives on January 3, 2019, many of whom have never held elected office. A lot of these new Members are women and minorities. Now is great time to start getting to know your local lawmakers to educate them on kidney disease and to share your story. [...]
Become a Member of DPC and Save on Top Brands
Treat yourself this year with the gift of free DPC membership. One of the perks we offer our members is discounts on top brands. If you are planning to purchase a computer, rent a car, move to a new home, ship a package, print materials or buy office supplies, you could benefit from DPC membership. Become a member and join almost 40,000 patients, family members, health professionals and friends that help to elevate the voice of individuals with chronic kidney disease. Join Dialysis Patient Citizens.