America’s kidney patients are desperate for new treatments
America has a kidney problem. The federal government has the power to help solve it. Today, 37 million Americans have chronic kidney disease (CKD)—that’s one out of every seven U.S. adults. The majority have CKD as a result of diabetes or hypertension, but CKD isn’t a mere side effect of those conditions; it is its…
The FDA Is Blocking Game-Changing New Drugs For Kidney Disease
Imagine you’ve been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, told by your physician that if it can’t be managed, you may eventually need a transplant or long-term dialysis. This scary situation is one faced by hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. Click here to see the full article on the Issues & Insights website.
Kidney groups call out US Supreme Court decision on DaVita, hospital employee health plan
Several kidney organizations have spoken out against the recent overruling of Marietta Memorial Hospital Employee Benefit Health Plan v. DaVita by the U.S. Supreme Court. In the lawsuit, DaVita claimed the hospital health plan discriminated against employees requiring dialysis. As Healio previously reported, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that Marietta Memorial Hospital offered the same outpatient…
Wenstrup sponsors bipartisan, bicameral Kidney Health Connect Act
U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) on May 24 sponsored a bipartisan, bicameral bill that would permit dialysis clinics to serve as originating sites for telehealth services and to ensure patients do not pay any additional fees associated with using the clinics. Click here to see the full article on The Ripon Advance website.
Rep. Wenstrup Introduces Bipartisan, Bicameral Bill to Allow Patients to Access Telehealth Services from Dialysis Clinics
Rep. Brad Wenstrup, D.P.M. (R-Ohio) introduced the bipartisan Kidney Health Connect Act, which he led with Reps. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), John Joyce, M.D. (R-Pa.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and John Barrasso, M.D. (R-Wyo.) This legislation allows dialysis clinics to serve as originating sites for telehealth services and ensures patients are not…
Policymakers must prioritize immunocompromised dialysis patients by allowing providers to allocate, distribute therapies
We’ve reached the unimaginable two-year milestone of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we reflect on the last few years, we remember the incalculable loss and devastation endured by so many around the world, across the country, and in our own communities. Our daily lives and those of our patients were upended and shadowed with tremendous fear…
It’s time to improve America’s kidney care
As we pass the two-year anniversary of the world shutting down and shifting how we look at health and health care, it is important to reflect on how this virus disproportionately impacted certain disease populations — such as individuals living with chronic kidney disease (CKD), kidney failure and transplant—who are particularly vulnerable. Click here to…
March is National Kidney Month; passing bipartisan legislation would help millions of Americans
The impact kidney disease has on patients and our health care system cannot be understated. To put it in perspective, there are more than 37 million people in the United States with kidney disease. This is roughly equivalent to the entire population of California. Even worse, more people will die from kidney disease this year than breast or prostate cancer….
Quality measures that matter can help kidney community reimagine home dialysis
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how we approach health care in the United States in myriad ways, especially for vulnerable populations. In highlighting the trust that patients place in their dialysis facilities to provide safe and effective care under these challenging circumstances, the pandemic provides a new context and a new opportunity to reevaluate longstanding…
Members of Congress call on Biden to prioritize kidney innovation in budget
Nearly 20 members of Congress signed a letter urging President Joe Biden to allocate $25 million for KidneyX in the executive budget for the 2023 fiscal year. “For KidneyX to meet its full potential and continue to foster the development of technologies, such as a wearable or implantable artificial kidney and xenotransplantation, the federal government must increase…