National Renal Administrators Association meets with CMS over proposed cut to ESRD bundle

Leadership from the National Renal Administrators Association meet with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services officials on Aug. 13 to discuss the proposed payment cuts to the Medicare ESRD bundled payment. CMS proposes reducing the base rate by 12% ($29.52 per treatment), making the CY 2014 base rate $216.95. CMS also proposes a market basket update of 2.5% when offset by a productivity adjustment of 0.4%.

(DaVita CEO says dialysis clinic closures will be inevitable if ESRD bundle cut is implemented)

During the meeting with CMS, the NRAA said they "presented our concerns about the PPS Proposed Rule, Medicare payment reductions and the horribly damaging effects to access to care, provider choice and potential problems with quality of care for Medicare ESRD beneficiaries if the proposed cut were to be implemented,” wrote NRAA president Katrina Russell in the Aug. 16 edition of Renal Watch. “We expressed our belief that the proposed payment reduction harms all dialysis providers but that smaller providers are at greatest risk.”

Public comments must be submitted to CMS no later than 5:00 pm EST on Aug. 30. Go to www.regulations.gov to submit comments.