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Dialysis Patients That Can’t Afford Dental Care1
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Dialysis Patients That Rely on a Medical Transportation Service1

Improve Access to Care

DPC’s mission is to improve dialysis patients’ quality of life. A critical element of quality of life for patients is access to dialysis care.

Quality of life is improved when we have:

  • Ability to choose the modality that is consistent with our individual needs;
  • Access to centers that are convenient to travel to;
  • Access to centers that provide the best quality care;
  • Access to centers that are open during hours that permit us to plan dialysis around our lives, rather than having to plan life around our dialysis schedules;
  • Ability to choose the frequency of our treatments in order to maximize the benefits;
  • Access to centers where we can get continuity of care, from our physicians and the rest of the dialysis care team.

Quality of life is impeded when restrictions limit the choices patients have to receive our treatment. To this end, DPC advocates for the broadest possible choice of dialysis care for all patients, and against limitations or restrictions (of financial, policy, or other nature) that effectively limit such a choice.

Explore the Issues

Portrait of senior couple at the clinic leaninig their heads together and looking at the camera smiling while a team of doctors and nurses are standing at the background

Care Coordination

African american female dentist treating patient at clinic

Dental Coverage

A disabled senior African American man has gotten out of a car, and is sitting in his wheelchair. His loving wife is talking to him with her arm around his neck.

Transportation Services

Explore the Issues

Become a Patient Ambassador

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Make a Phone Call

Shot of a young businesswoman using a mobile phone at her desk in a modern office

Make a Phone Call

Related Information

DPC Expresses Outrage at CMS Indifference to Dialysis Patient Suffering

October 31st, 2023|Categories: Article, Dialysis Funding, Improve Access to Care, Increase Quality of Care, Innovation, News, Staffing Shortages|

On October 27, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its final rule updating payment rates and policies under the end-stage renal disease (ESRD) prospective payment system. This rule fails to [...]

Dialysis Patient Citizens Responds to Disappointing Final CMS Rule That Will Harm Patient Healthcare

October 30th, 2023|Categories: Dialysis Funding, Innovation, News, Press Release, Staffing Shortages|

WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 30, 2023) - Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC), the nation’s largest patient-led, non-profit advocacy group for dialysis patients, released the following statement in response to the final rule issued by the Centers [...]

  • shrinking workforce, staff shortages, health worker shortage

DPC Commentary Discusses How Workforce Shortages Impact Patients

September 20th, 2023|Categories: Article, Medicare Advantage, Promote Financial Security, Staffing Shortages, Uncategorized|

A commentary about workforce shortage issues authored by DPC Vice President of Public Policy Jackson Williams amplifies findings from this summer’s DPC member survey to explain how ESRD patients have been impacted. The article [...]

  • empty clinic, shrinking workforce, not enough healthcare workers, staffing shortage

AJMC Contributor Article: Medicare’s Leadership Needs to Confront Our Shrinking US Workforce

September 17th, 2023|Categories: Article, Improve Access to Care, Medicare Advantage, News, Policy Issues, Promote Financial Security, Staffing Shortages|

Written by Jackson Williams, JD, DPC Vice President of Public Policy Medicare’s administered pricing system has never had to deal with labor scarcity before. Fifteen years ago, the Institute of Medicine issued [...]

  • workforce shortages, staffing shortages, dialysis machine

Medicare Policy Proposal Jeopardizes Care for Those on Dialysis

September 8th, 2023|Categories: Access to Transplant, Article, Dialysis Funding, Improve Access to Care, Innovation, Medicare Advantage, Policy Issues, Staffing Shortages, Treatment Options|

CEOs of 3 kidney care organizations explain flaws in CMS' recent reimbursement proposal. In recent years, lawmakers have turned their attention to advancing health equity and creating opportunities for the improvement of historically underserved communities—and [...]

Learn More About Policy Issues

A black woman is at a routine medical appointment. The patient is sitting on a medical examination table in a clinic. She is filling out health history and medical insurance paperwork on a clipboard. The woman is waiting for her doctor.

Improve Access to Care

Photo of a young couple calculating home finances

Promote Financial Security

Increase Quality of Care

Advance Patient Choice

Dialysis Patient Citizens 2018 Annual Membership Survey Data