Kidney Care Partners Submits Comments on CMS CY26 Medicare Advantage and Part D Advance Notice
WASHINGTON – 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 – recently submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in response to its calendar year (CY) 2026 policy and payment proposals for Medicare Advantage…
Phosphate binder rule is disease-specific discrimination
In April, CMS issued guidance for the inclusion of oral-only drugs in the end-stage renal disease bundled payment. The directive included Xphozah as a renal dialysis service. Xphozah, (tenapanor, Ardelyx) is a first-in-class phosphate absorption inhibitor approved to lower serum phosphorus levels for adults on dialysis. CMS intends to include the agent in the ESRD prospective…
Restore Protections for Dialysis Patients Act Reaches 50 Cosponsors, Kidney Care Partners Calls for Additional Congressional Action
WASHINGTON – Kidney Care Partners (KCP) – the nation’s largest non-profit, non-partisan kidney care coalition dedicated to protecting access to care and comprised of more than 30 organizations, including patients, dialysis professionals, physicians, nurses, researchers, therapeutic innovators, transplant coordinators, and manufacturers – today thanks the 50 members of the U.S. House of Representatives who have signed…
CMS increases payment for dialysis facilities, includes oral-only drugs in the bundle
CMS issued a final rule increasing the End-stage Renal Disease Prospective Payment System base rate to dialysis facilities by about 2.7% to $273.82 beginning Jan. 1, 2025, according to an agency press release. The final rate is higher than the 2.2% increase to $273.20 in the proposed rule circulated in July and up from the 2024 base…
Discount criticism of N.J. library protection bill | Letters
As a healthcare professional, it’s my duty to ensure that dialysis treatment – a life-sustaining procedure over 20,000 New Jerseyans living with kidney failure depend on – is as accessible and seamless as possible. For over 40 years, that job was made easier by a law that provided patients on dialysis with the option to…
ESRD Pay Rule Cements Oral-Only Drugs In Bundled Payment Despite Stakeholder Opposition
CMS on Friday (Nov. 1) finalized a plan to add oral-only drugs to its End-Stage Renal Disease bundled payment system despite stakeholders’ efforts to delay the policy, including legislation passed by the House Energy & Commerce Committee that would have excluded the drugs from the ESRD bundling for another two years. Click here to see the full…
Kidney Care Partners Supports Policies to Expand Home Dialysis and Improve Reimbursement for Phosphate-Lowering Drugs, Remains Concerned CMS Has Not Addressed Barriers to Patient Access to Innovative Treatments
WASHINGTON – 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 – issued the following comments in response to the recently released final Calendar Year 2025 End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System (PPS), Payment for Renal Dialysis Services…
Life-sustaining dialysis care
Dialysis treatments, while essential, are also often a tiring process for patients with end-stage renal disease or kidney failure. As a nephrologist, it is my job to ensure that the 12-15 hours patients spend in the dialysis chair each week are as easy as possible. A Supreme Court decision, however, could make it much harder…
KCP Applauds Efforts to Increase Organ Availability in Comments to HHS
WASHINGTON – 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 – recently submitted comments to the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) in response to the “Organ Procurement and Transplantation: Implementation of the HIV Organ Policy Equity…
Bundled payment system has hindered innovation in kidney care
In the movie Steel Magnolias, actor Julia Roberts plays Shelby, a young patient with diabetic kidney disease torn between her desire to be a mother and the reality of pregnancy pushing her into a life on dialysis. Since the introduction of dialysis in the 1960s and the extension of universal disease-specific coverage of end-stage kidney disease under…