Administration Offers Progress Report on Kidney Care Initiative
HHS on Monday offered a progress report on its yearlong initiative, Advancing American Kidney Health, which sought to reduce the risk of kidney failure, increase access to home-based dialysis, and boost availability of kidney transplants. Click here to read the full article on the American Journal of Managed Care website.
Does Medicare Support Coordinated Care for Those on Dialysis? Actions Speak Louder than Words
For years, our nation’s policymakers and elected officials have focused tremendous efforts toward transforming health care into a value-based system, one that tackles health disparities through coordinated care services. In fact, CMS Administrator Seema Verma recently found Medicare’s fee-for-service system “insufficient” and called for increased urgency to create a system that focuses on the total person and…
Under New Rule, MA Plans Can Keep a Blindfold on Dialysis Facility Choice for Individuals With Kidney Failure
Patient choice has always been the cornerstone of my beliefs. In 2016, Congress decided that people who are eligible for Medicare due to a diagnosis of End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) would become eligible to enroll in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans beginning January 1, 2021. MA is an option under Medicare to receive coverage through a private…
CMS rule makes it more difficult for dialysis patients to access care
Americans living with chronic diseases often face discriminatory practices by health plans, making it difficult to access care. This is particularly true for those living with kidney failure, or end-stage renal disease. The kidney community celebrated passage of the 2016 21st Century Cures Act, which allowed for both newly diagnosed and existing ESRD patients to…
More attention to patient-centric kidney care policies needed amidst COVID-19 pandemic
Since COVID-19 reached the U.S., normal day-to-day life has come to an unprecedented, screeching halt. While work, school and commerce have slowed, what we have learned—and continue to learn—about COVID-19 is moving at what seems like light speed. Several short months ago, few people were wearing masks in public because we assumed only those individuals…
Kidney Care Partners Reacts to Recently Released Prospective Payment System (PPS) Rule
WASHINGTON, DC – Kidney Care Partners (KCP) – the nation’s leading kidney care multi-stakeholder coalition representing patient advocates, physician organizations, health professional groups, dialysis providers, researchers, and manufacturers – today shared the following in reaction to the recently released Prospective Payment System (PPS) Rule: KCP remains supportive of the Transitional Drug Add-on Payment Adjustment (TDAPA) for…
COVID-19 and kidney disease: A deadly intersection that requires investment in prevention, research
In the months since the novel coronavirus first began infecting individuals in the United States, Americans – health care professionals, researchers, and the public alike – have received a rapid and ever-changing education in the medical science on this devasting virus. What we initially understood as primarily a respiratory illness has proven itself to be…
Business Rivals Join to Help Vulnerable Kidney Patients During COVID-19
When COVID-19 began spreading rapidly across the United States, government officials responded with stay-at-home orders, business closures, cancellations of elective procedures, and many other unprecedented measures to slow the spread of the virus. Yet, as Americans did their part to social distance and protect their neighbors and loved ones, kidney patients, and particularly those on dialysis, faced…
Kidney Care Partners Pleased CMS Implements Expansion of Medicare Advantage Program, Concerned Other Changes Could Undermine Care Access for Patients with Kidney Failure
WASHINGTON, DC – Kidney Care Partners (KCP) – the nation’s leading kidney care multi-stakeholder coalition representing patient advocates, physician organizations, health professional groups, dialysis providers, researchers, and manufacturers – sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Alex Azar and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma applauding CMS…
Kidney Care Partners Opposes Discriminatory Policies Toward Nation’s Most Vulnerable Patients with Kidney Disease, Kidney Failure During Pandemic
Kidney Community Applauds HHS Office for Civil Rights for Enforcing Anti-Discrimination Regulations to Address Potential for Denial of Medical, Ventilator Care for Kidney Patients with COVID-19 WASHINGTON, DC – Kidney Care Partners (KCP) – the nation’s leading kidney care multi-stakeholder coalition representing patient advocates, physician organizations, health professional groups, dialysis providers, researchers, and manufacturers –…