Dialysis Patient Citizens News
Extension of Florida’s Managed Medical Assistance (MMA) Waiver
Justin Senior State Medicaid Director Agency for Health Care Administration 2727 Mahan Drive, MS #8 Tallahassee, Florida 32308 Re: Extension of Florida’s Managed Medical Assistance (MMA) Waiver (Project Number 11- W-00206/4) Dear Mr. Senior: Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) appreciates the opportunity to provide the Agency for Health Care Administration with comments on extension of the managed care waiver. As America’s largest patient-led organization representing dialysis patients, DPC’s membership consists of more than 26,000 end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and their families. We seek to ensure the [...]
Health Insurance Marketplaces Under Affordable Care Act Are Open For Business: What Does It Mean For Kidney Patients?
On October 1, online health insurance exchanges went live. Here's what dialysis patients should know about the Affordable Care Act (also known as ACA or "Obamacare"): Health insurance sold in the ACA exchanges is for people who do not (or will not after January 1) have health insurance provided by Medicare or an employer-sponsored health plan. Kidney patients who have received a transplant and whose Medicare coverage has ended/will end soon will want to explore receiving coverage through an ACA exchange plan. Pre-existing conditions will not be [...]
Promoting Care Coordination for Dialysis Patients
Federal policymakers have long grappled with the problem of better coordinating care for Medicare beneficiaries. As the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has noted, "Gaps exist in care coordination in fee-for-service Medicare because of the fragmentation of service delivery, the lack of tools to help communicate across settings or providers, and the lack of a financial incentive to coordinate care." Part of the problem is that the Original, or fee-for-service, Medicare largely froze in place mainstream medical and insurance practices as they stood in 1965, when the program was created. [...]
Kidney Care Partners’ Quality Initiative Spurs 25 Percent Improvement In Mortality Rates for Dialysis Patients Within the First 90 Days Of Treatment, 13.6 Percent Improvement In First Year
Kidney Care Partners' PEAK (Performance Excellence and Accountability in Kidney Care) quality improvement initiative spurred a 25 percent reduction in mortality rates for dialysis patients in the first 90 days of treatment and a nearly 14 percent reduction during the first year, according to an analysis of data prepared by Brown University*. Launched in 2009, the PEAK Campaign was a voluntary community initiative designed to highlight proven practices with the goal of improving the rate of survival of kidney failure patients new to dialysis. Available data at the [...]
Dialysis Advocates Oppose Cuts in Washington, DC
We still need your help letting your Members of Congress know that you strongly disagree with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid's (CMS) proposed 9.4% cut to dialysis treatment funding. Earlier this month we had an extremely successful Fly-In here in Washington, DC. A Fly-In, if you aren't familiar with the term, is a focused event that invites individuals to Washington, DC, to meet with key elected officials on Capitol Hill who need to be informed on a specific issue by the people who are personally impacted. Dialysis [...]
Act Now! Protect the Medicare ESRD Program!
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) just released a regulation that proposes to reduce Medicare funding for dialysis treatments by 9.4%. The American Taxpayers Relief Act (the fiscal cliff deal) mandated CMS to adjust the price it pays for dialysis to reflect the recent change in usage of certain anemia management drugs. However, no one in the kidney community expected CMS to propose such a dramatic cut. These cuts are dangerous and a serious threat to patient access to quality care. Facilities will likely have to [...]
Stop the Cuts to Dialysis Treatment Reimbursement
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency responsible for Medicare, just released a regulation that proposes to reduce Medicare funding for dialysis treatments by 9.4%. Please take a few moments to express your outrage to your Members of Congress. Otherwise, they will assume that the cuts are not harmful. If you would like to express your concern to your members of Congress electronically, simply follow the links in the flyer. If you would like to send a physical letter to your members of Congress contact DPC at [...]
CMS Proposes Devastating Cuts to Dialysis Payments
URGENT: Protect your dialysis care! Urge your Members of Congress to prevent a kidney care crisis! The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) just released a regulation that proposes to reduce Medicare funding for dialysis treatments by 9.4%. The American Taxpayers Relief Act (the fiscal cliff deal) mandated CMS to adjust the price it pays for dialysis to reflect the recent change in usage of certain anemia management drugs. However, no one in the kidney community expected CMS to propose such a dramatic and potentially devastating cut. [...]
California Medicaid Coverage for Nutritional Supplements Restored
The recently-signed 2013-2014 California budget included a full restoration of Medi-Cal coverage for nutritional supplements for dialysis patients. This change will take effect May 1, 2014. Dialysis patients require access to quality care including physician visits, prescription medication, dialysis treatments and a proper nutritional regimen in order to maintain their health and avoid hospitalization. DPC is pleased to see this coverage restored for California's 53,000 dialysis patients.
DPC Welcomes New Government Affairs Director
Join us in welcoming our new Government Affairs Director Jackson Williams. Hailing originally from Chicago, Jackson brings with him an impressive list of advanced degrees including: a Bachelor's degree in political science, a Juris Doctor, a Master's of Public Administration along with Ph.D. coursework in public policy analysis. Jackson has taught law and health politics at several colleges and universities. He couples his impressive educational background with extensive real world professional experience. Jackson actually just left the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation in order to help [...]
OPTN/UNOS Approves New Deceased Donor Kidney Allocation Policy
The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) board approved a new kidney allocation policy that will substantially change the way deceased donor kidneys are distributed. Many components of the policy will benefit dialysis patients greatly. For example, measuring wait times from the initiation of dialysis will improve access to transplants for those patients who do not receive crucial kidney transplant education. The prior system measured wait times from when the patient signed up for a transplant. The new system will help [...]
DPC Joins Kidney Community in Requesting Meeting with CMS on ESCOs
Dear Ms. Tavenner and Dr. Gilfillan: On behalf of the undersigned organizations, thank you for your leadership of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). Together, our organizations represent the patients, physicians, nurses, scientists, and other health professionals dedicated to advancing excellence in the care of patients with kidney disease. Foremost among our shared goals is continuous improvement in the quality, efficiency, and accessibility of care available to patients with kidney disease. Our organizations applaud the Centers [...]
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. [...]