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 – today commended Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) for the re-introduction of the Chronic Kidney Disease Improvement in Research and Treatment Act (S.1971). If passed, the legislation would raise awareness of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) while also improving understanding and promoting access to treatment.

“As the voice of the kidney care community, KCP is a strong advocate for improvements in treatment and care options for people living with kidney disease, including through CKD, dialysis, transplant and post-transplant care,” said John P. Butler, Chair of KCP. “This important legislation aims to increase access to screenings, improve treatment education, expand care options, and encourage innovation.”

The Chronic Kidney Disease Improvement in Research and Treatment Act would:

• Expand kidney disease awareness and education by expanding the Medicare annual wellness benefit to include kidney disease screening, increase access to the Medicare Kidney Disease Education Benefit, research disincentives in the Medicare payment systems that create barriers to kidney transplants and post-transplant care, and invest in understanding the progression of kidney disease and treatment of kidney failure in minority populations.
• Create an economically stable dialysis infrastructure and incentivize innovation by refining the ESRD payment system to improve accuracy in payment and support innovative therapies.
• Increase patient access to quality performance information by improving the accuracy and transparency of the ESRD quality programs by bettering patient decision making and transparency by consolidating and modernizing quality programs; and
• Expand patient choice in coverage by providing Medigap access to ESRD beneficiaries and protecting dialysis patients’ access to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans.

“We’re grateful to Senators Cardin and Blunt for introducing this legislation. We look forward to working to advance The Chronic Kidney Disease Improvement in Research and Treatment Act with the goal of improving the lives of people living with kidney disease,” Butler concluded.

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