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Patients on dialysis in California sign petition to opposing limits on provider profits
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More than 6,000 patients on dialysis and their family members have signed petition cards indicating they are opposed to a measure slated to appear on the California ballot in November that would limit how much dialysis providers can profit from their care.
The petition drive was organized by the Patient Freedom Coalition, which has major funding from Fresenius Medical Care. According to the coalition, the petition cards were signed during a 2-week period at Fresenius clinics.
“Patients are opposed to this measure for one simple reason – it could lead to significant reductions in access to the care they need,” said Bryan Wong, MD, a practicing nephrologist in Berkeley, California. “Missing even a single dialysis treatment session can result in a visit to the emergency room or even death. That is why this measure is so troubling. Patients deserve to be heard.”
The ballot measure, called the Fair Pricing for Dialysis Act, would limit the revenues of dialysis corporations to 15% above the amount these corporations spend on patient care. Any additional profit would require clinics to issue rebates to health insurance companies. The act calls for only using “patient care services costs,” which opponents of the measure say does not include administrative and nurse manager salaries, medical director fees, security and other costs.
The coalition said it has support from nearly 100 stakeholder organizations in opposing the measure, ranging from the California Medical Association to the California State Conference NAACP. Getting the measure on the ballot has been primarily the work of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), which has made efforts to organize dialysis workers in the state.
“This measure is supported by people and organizations with little understanding of complex health care systems. The disregard for the impacts their reckless actions could have on dialysis patients is deeply troubling,” said Wong. “Rather than improving patient care, it will make it worse.”
On June 13, California’s Supreme Court rejected a dialysis group’s attempt to throw out the ballot initiative. The petition was filed by the California Dialysis Council and the Patients and Caregivers to Protect Dialysis Patients. – by Mark E. Neumann