Dialysis Patient Citizens News
Exciting Changes at DPC
By Hrant J., DPC Executive Director With the creation of the DPC Education Center, it became increasingly apparent that Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) needed to do some internal realignment of its staff. Our goals for this process were to ensure: 1) we maximize DPC’s limited resources, 2) we secure the sustainability of the DPC Education Center, and 3) we continue to prioritize our advocacy efforts and the work we do to elevate the patient voice with policy makers. As a result, I am pleased to announce that [...]
Inside the Intern’s Mind – Goodbye for now!
By Megan S., Education Intern I am in my final day here at DPC, and I wanted to post my last blog before I move on. I can’t believe how fast time has flown. It seems surreal that I have spent about 3 months here and that I will be graduating from college in just two weeks. First, I would just like to personally thank my supervisor, Tony, for granting me this amazing opportunity. Your guidance and supervision throughout my experience was more than I could have expected. [...]
Confused About ObamaCare? You are not Alone!
By Jessica N., Director of Public Affairs When it comes to the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a ACA or Obamacare), the one thing most people can agree on is its complexity. The bill was long and detailed, and since its passage, thousands of pages of regulations have been released to direct its roll-out. Whether you support the new health care reforms or not, the bill is here to stay and substantial changes are coming to our health care system. If you would like to learn a bit more [...]
Inside the Intern’s Mind: Halfway Point
By Megan S., Education Intern I am a little past my halfway point of interning here at Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) and the DPC Education Center (The Center) and so far it has been a great learning environment and experience. Even though I have lived just outside of Washington, D.C. my entire life I was never a frequent visitor of the city and in just a few days here I discovered how drastically different it was from my hometown, Waldorf, MD. For starters, everyone here just moves at [...]
DPC Thanks South Carolina Senator for his Support in Extending Medigap Coverage to Medicare Patients
The Honorable Harvey S. Peeler Jr. 213 Gressette Building Columbia, SC 29201 Dear Senator Peeler, As the nation’s largest patient-led organization representing dialysis patients, Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) works to improve the quality of life for all dialysis patients through education and advocacy. On behalf of our membership, and particularly on behalf of the over 7,800 dialysis patients in South Carolina, we are writing today to thank you for introducing legislation to extend Medigap coverage to Medicare patients under the age of 65 with disabilities or end [...]
Snapshots from our World Kidney Day Advocacy Event
By Jessica N., Director of Public Affairs For World Kidney Day, more than 75 dialysis community advocates traveled to Washington, DC to raise awareness about kidney disease issues on Capitol Hill. Check out some great photos from the three-day event below. DPC Executive Director Hrant Jamgochian opens up the Issue Briefing at the Advocacy Day Training Session Jean Moody-Williams, Director of the Quality Improvement Group at CMS, discusses quality improvement strategies for the Medicare ESRD Program. Dialysis community advocates strategize with Capitol Hill group members. Advocates get [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Update: Dialysis Care Coordination Moves Forward!
By Jessica N., Director of Public Affairs As I highlighted last fall, DPC has been busy working with other kidney community organizations and the federal government on a new and improved way to provide care to dialysis patients. As part of recent health care reform efforts, Medicare has been developing new ways to coordinate care for various patient groups and they just came out with their dialysis specific program! Medicare, or more specifically the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), released the official blueprint for this new [...]
DPC Highlights CMS Proposed Rule Including Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs
Via Electronic Submission Acting Administrator Tavenner Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Department of Health and Human Services P.O. Box 8016 Baltimore, MD 21244 Re: CMS-2334-P: Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Programs, and Exchanges: Essential Health Benefits in Alternative Benefit Plans, Eligibility Notices, Fair Hearing and Appeal Processes for Medicaid and Exchange Eligibility Appeals and Other Provisions Related to Eligibility and Enrollment for Exchanges, Medicaid and CHIP, and Medicaid Premiums and Cost Sharing Dear Acting Administrator Tavenner: Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) appreciates the opportunity to comment on the [...]
Congressional Corner: February 2013
By Carrie L. Director of Congressional and State Relations As it has been mentioned in previous blog posts, World Kidney Day is a great opportunity to get out in the community and raise awareness about kidney disease. For us here at the DPC office, this means inviting some of our most active Patient Ambassadors from around the country to join us in the nation’s capital. On World Kidney Day, the Patient Ambassadors will meet with their Members of Congress to talk with them about the policy issues [...]
From the Welcome Desk At DPC: Who Are You Going to Call? Hint Not the Ghostbusters
By Stephen C., Policy Assistant Hello all! This week I want to talk about something that I’ve been asked about quite a bit. Lots of folks have been calling me to find out how to submit complaints to their dialysis centers. Obviously, we care about patients and want to make sure that they are receiving the best possible care. But when it comes to individual patients at individual centers, we just don’t have the resources to get involved in every case at the local level. If you have [...]
Dash of Sage: World Kidney Day is Rapidly Approaching
By Sage B., Grassroots Manager This week I am working on World Kidney Day (WKD) materials to help people organize events, contact their lawmakers and educate the public on issues that dialysis patients face. And it reminds me of an old story from my former life as a domestic violence advocate: In the 1970’s the domestic abuse movement was basically made up of private citizens who were willing to open their homes to victims of domestic abuse. Unfortunately, aside from these very brave individuals, domestic abuse was still [...]