Dialysis
Patients Secure
Access to Life
Saving Care
By Megan Beveridge , Director of Congressional Relations, DPC
We have great news to report for dialysis patients! In early
February, Congress passed a short-term funding bill which
funded the government through March 23rd. This legislation
contained a budget deal which will boost military and
nonmilitary funding by billions. At the same time, it includes
several provisions which ensure dialysis patients will have
access to life saving care.
One provision included in this spending package is from the
Medicare Part B Improvement Act of 2017 (H.R. 3178), which
was introduced July 7th, 2017 by Reps Kevin Brady (R-Texas)
and Richard Neal (D-Mass.), the Chairman and Ranking Member
of the House Ways & Means Committee. This provision
permits health care providers to utilize data from home dialysis
equipment to monitor their patients. Currently, many patients
receiving home dialysis treatments have hi-tech equipment
in their homes that provide valuable data. This provision
would allow nephrologists and dialysis providers to access this
important information as well as to provide and bill for services
they deliver remotely, also referred to as telemedicine. These
technologies can now be leveraged by Medicare providers to
help provide better care and reduce overall health care costs,
while also increasing access to health care providers.
Another key provision of the Medicare Part B Improvement
Act that was included in the funding bill will allow dialysis
treatment centers to seek Medicare-approved, outside
accreditation to provide dialysis treatments. Currently, facilities
that provide care for Medicare beneficiaries face a state survey
and certification process along with a Medicare accreditation
process to participate in the program. Of these facilities, dialysis
facilities are the only ones that are not able to be surveyed and
accredited by outside agencies. This has resulted in long delays
for the approval of new dialysis facilities as well as extremely
high startup costs that discourage new centers from being
opened, especially in rural communities where there may be
fewer patients making it more difficult to recoup those initial
costs. Thi s provision would streamline this process and prevent
unnecessary delays in access to care.
Finally, the spending package included a provision which
would reauthorize Medicare Special Needs Plans (SNPs) which
are Medicare Advantage plans providing care for patients with
special needs and chronic diseases, such as End Stage Renal
Disease. This provision would reauthorize these plans for 5
years, the longest reauthorization since their creation, and
provide patients with more care coordination, including access
to health care specialists who can address their specific health
care needs. It will also provide them with a more stable and
permanent path forward.
As America’s largest patient-led kidney disease organization
representing 30,000 dialysis patients and family members,
we worked hard at DPC advocating in support of these
critical issues and want to applaud Congress for including
them in the spending bill. Access to affordable, quality
health care is essential for all patients, but especially dialysis
patients, and these provisions will not only improve their
access to care but also remove barriers which are currently
harming that access.
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