Dialysis Patient Citizens News
DPC Urges Administration to Keep Dialysis Accessible in Obamacare Health Plans
DPC recently urged the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to ensure that provider networks in new Affordable Care Act health plans offer convenient access to dialysis facilities. DPC told HHS that “since dialysis patients must typically undergo treatment three times per week, travel to and from a dialysis facility is far more burdensome than travel to physician offices or other sites of care that are visited less frequently. If a health plan limits its network to a single dialysis organization—as we fear some may do, [...]
DPC Urges Medicare Agency to Withdraw Proposal That Could Weaken Protections for Transplant Patients
Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) weighed in against a Medicare proposal that would complicate some transplant patients’ access to immunosuppressive drugs. Medicare Part D, like other private health plans, uses drug formularies to keep down costs. Formularies favor certain drugs over others in exchange for discounts. Patients are encouraged to ask their doctors to first prescribe medications on the formulary to take advantage of lower co-pays. Often a patient’s condition can be addressed by a drug on the formulary, but many transplant patients find that “first-line” immunosuppressive treatments [...]
3 Things You Can Do for National Kidney Month
March is National Kidney Month which provides the perfect opportunity to educate your community about kidney disease! Here are some suggestions to help you increase awareness about kidney disease: The DPC Education Center is holding a grassroots fundraiser to raise money for our kidney education efforts. We'll give you the tools you will need to participate. Fundraise World Kidney Day is March 13. If you are interested in handing out information in your dialysis facility or your community, we can provide all the materials and instructions [...]
We Need to Hear From You!
DPC is currently working on two initiatives that require your input! First, the National Quality Forum is conducting a study of "Person-Centered Care" and is looking for patient input. DPC has volunteered to collect patient viewpoints on this subject, and we are inviting our members and other dialysis patients to share your experience with and insights into the care you've received. The National Quality Forum is an organization that endorses the standardized healthcare performance measures that are used by Medicare and other insurers to monitor quality. Its goal in this project [...]
DPC Thanks Texas for Allowing ESRD Patients to Purchase Medigap Plans
Ms. Sara Waitt, General Counsel Texas Department of Insurance P.O. Box 149104 Austin, TX 78714-9104 Re: Minimum Standards for Medicare Supplement Policies Dear Ms. Waitt, 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 over 37,000 dialysis patients in Texas, specifically those who use the Texas Health Insurance Pool for supplemental insurance. We would like to express our gratitude for the recent [...]
For New Kidney Failure Patients Under 65: Is Medicare or an Exchange Plan the Better Insurance Option?
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) patients who progress to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) before the age of 65 now have a new health insurance option—exchange health plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Non-elderly patients who do not have, or will not be continuing, employer-sponsored insurance may be better off in an exchange plan depending on their financial circumstances. The reason for this is that the Affordable Care Act is more generous than Medicare in providing extra financial assistance to low-income individuals. Medicare Programs for Low-Income Patients Patient advocates [...]
DPC Thanks California for Reinstating Nutritional Supplement Coverage
Ms. Pilar Williams, Chief Medical Supplies & Enteral Nutrition Benefits Branch, Pharmacy Benefits Division California Department of Health Care Services P. O. Box 997413, MS 4604 Sacramento, CA 95899-7413 Re: Proposed Policy Changes to Medi-Cal Enternal Nutrition Products Benefit Dear Ms. Williams, On behalf of the more than 50,000 people on dialysis in California, Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) would like to thank you and the state of California for restoring Medi-Cal coverage of enteral nutritional supplements for dialysis patients. With 30,000 members nationwide, DPC works to improve [...]
DPC Encourages Coverage of Renal Dialysis in Exchange Plans
Hon. Marilyn Tavenner, Administrator Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Department of Health and Human Services Hubert H. Humphrey Building 200 Independence Ave, SW Washington, D.C. 20201 Re: Coverage of Renal Dialysis in Exchange Plans Dear Administrator Tavenner: Dialysis Patient Citizens, America’s largest patient-led organization representing dialysis patients, is comprised of more than 26,000 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 express our concerns about language we found in [...]
Giving Tuesday: What Can We as Dialysis Patients Give?
By James Myers, DPC Patient Ambassador On the website for the Polycystic Kidney Foundation, there is an announcement about Giving Tuesday, December 3rd, 2013. It says you can give one of three ways: your voice, your time or your dollars. As a dialysis patient, I don’t know about you, but I don’t have any money. But two things that I have a lot of are voice and time, and I am more than happy to lend those to the cause of defeating PKD. I can honestly say [...]
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 [...]
Exciting Changes to the Patient Ambassador Program
DPC has revised the Patient Ambassador program to offer participants a better overall experience. To give Patient Ambassadors increased flexibility, Ambassadors will now have more of a choice over which actions they take. Prior to 2014, Ambassadors received two suggested actions to take each month. Starting in 2014, Ambassadors will receive many more possible actions to take on a bimonthly basis without any obligation to complete them all. Instead, Ambassadors will earn reward points for each action they take. The greater the time commitment and effort required to [...]
Patient Outcry Draws a Two-Year Reprieve From Dialysis Cuts
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) acknowledged patient concerns by delaying for two years its planned cut to the Medicare End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) program. The Medicare agency’s decision didn’t give dialysis patients everything we asked for, but it does mean that nearly $2 billion slated to be cut from kidney care in 2014 and 2015 will remain available to treat patients. However, it also means that patient advocates must be vigilant for any signs that access to care is shrinking as providers anticipate cuts [...]
Apply for DPC’s 2014 World Kidney Day Fly-in
Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) is holding our 2014 World Kidney Day Fly-in from March 11 through March 13 in Washington, DC. Are you ready to join the nation’s top patient advocates in Washington, DC and talk to your legislators directly about the issues that affect dialysis patients? If so, be sure to apply! We are looking for kidney disease patients who are passionate about dialysis advocacy. Before applying, you must first enroll in DPC’s Patient’s Ambassador Program. Preference will be given to applicants who have volunteered for [...]
CMS Releases Final Rule on 9.4% Cut to Medicare ESRD Program
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) just released a final rule on the proposed 9.4% cut to dialysis funding. The final rule made the following changes: The payment rate for dialysis services will remain the same in 2014 and 2015. The proposed 12% cut to dialysis was delayed until 2016 and will be phased in over 4 years. There will be a 50% increase in the home dialysis training payment. In response, DPC released the following statement: DPC appreciates the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ [...]
Has the ACA Expanded Medicare’s Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Recipients?
By Jim Myers, DPC Patient Ambassador. I had a conversation with my doctor last week. (My nephrologist, Dr. Vavilala, we call him Dr. V). He asked me if I had heard anything during my last trip to Washington, D.C. about an extension of coverage through the ACA to kidney transplant patients of the immunosuppressive drug coverage beyond the 36 month period that currently exists. This rang a bell in the back of my brain, so I decided to check it out. Every transplant patient or transplant candidate [...]
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 [...]
How Engaged Are You?
Meshia Adams By Meshia Adams, DPC Patient Ambassador If you asked me if I was an engaged patient, I would tell you yes. I can tell you what my last lab values are; I am compliant with taking my medications and see my doctors on a regular basis. I consider myself to be a responsible patient who is closely involved in my healthcare needs. I haven’t always been active in my care or engaged as a patient. In the beginning, I was in a state [...]