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 – applauded Representatives Buddy Carter (R-GA), Ann Kuster (D-NH), Carol Miller (R-WV), and Terri Sewell (D-AL) for their introduction of the H.R. 5074, the Kidney Patient Access to Technologically Innovative and Essential Nephrology Treatments (PATIENT) Act of 2023.

This legislation, if passed, would delay the implementation of adding oral-only end-stage renal disease (ESRD) phosphate lowering drugs to the Medicare ESRD payment bundle until January 1, 2033, or until an intravenous (IV) drug indicated for the reduction, management, or control of the serum phosphate has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  

“The ESRD prospective payment system, or ‘bundle’ as it is currently constructed, does not create the right structure for providers to ensure access to optimal medications to treat high phosphorus levels, a condition affecting most Medicare beneficiaries on dialysis, particularly when these drugs are taken with meals and not administered in a dialysis center,” said John P. Butler, Chair of KCP. “Given the volume of pills taken daily and variability in patient response, Kidney Care Partners supports this effort to delay the inclusion of these drugs in Medicare’s ESRD payment bundle.”

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing moving these drugs out of the Part D program beginning January 1, 2025, which has been met with widespread dissent and concern among the nation’s kidney care and patient advocacy community.

“Medicare policy should ensure individuals living with kidney failure have access to the medications that work best for them and that providers are adequately reimbursed when providing them. That’s why KCP supports extending the exclusion of oral-only drugs from the bundle and commends Representatives Carter, Kuster, Miller and Sewell for their leadership on this important bipartisan legislation,” Butler concluded.

To learn more about KCP’s position on this issue, click here.

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