CMS on Friday (Sept. 18) announced it will start on Jan. 1 a mandatory demonstration aimed at increasing the use of home dialysis and kidney transplants — which the agency says should give providers plenty of time to prepare — and also revealed it will include 30% of dialysis facilities and providers managing adults with End-Stage Renal Disease in the model rather than its proposed 50% while rejecting the idea of a voluntary approach.

The agency said it will use a different way of looking at transplant waitlisting than it had previously proposed for the End-Stage Renal Disease Treatment Choices model, which will help allow for reliance on a smaller portion of providers to get results.

Kidney Care Partners said they appreciate CMS’ decision to decrease the scope of the model, but “we remain concerned [that] fears voiced by patient organizations and providers about patients who do not select home dialysis being disadvantaged by the Model have not been addressed in a way to allay their anxieties.”

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