House representative: Despite COVID-19, Congress maintains focus on advancing kidney care
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At the virtual Innovations in Dialysis: Expediting Advances Symposium, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., assured the audience that Congress continues its efforts to improve care for patients with kidney disease.
“I wish we could all be together this year, but I know you won’t let the current pandemic slow down the groundbreaking research that you’re working on,” DelBene, who also serves as co-chair of the Congressional Kidney Caucus in the House of Representatives, said. “And as Congress continues to address COVID-19, I want to assure you that we have not forgotten everything else that we need to focus on.”
She cited specific actions that have been taken, telling the audience that, in July, the House passed legislation to fund HHS for the next fiscal year; this included another $5 million for KidneyX.
“Since becoming the co-chair of the kidney caucus, I’ve used this platform to support greater investments in kidney research and efforts to revolutionize kidney care, making KidneyX a top priority,” she said.
DelBene emphasized that innovations in kidney care must continue.
“Sixty years ago, kidney failure was a death sentence,” she said. “But because thoughtful, caring and brilliant researchers and clinicians would not accept the status quo, dialysis was invented. Policy makers understood how profound this breakthrough was and added the end-stage renal disease benefit to Medicare, guaranteeing Medicare coverage to patients with kidney failure regardless of age. But since that time, too many researchers, providers and policymakers have accepted this kidney care status quo.”
According to DelBene, the stagnation in treatments for kidney disease means that approximately half of patients on dialysis will only live for 5 years and nearly 100,000 patients await a kidney transplant at any given time. In addition, Medicare spends $31 billion every year to treat kidney failure.
“This does not need to be the status quo,” DelBene said. “I don’t accept it and I know you don’t accept it either.”
DelBene concluded her talk by telling the audience that she looks forward to supporting efforts that “smash the status quo ... [and create] breakthroughs in kidney care.”
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DelBene S. Congressional perspective. Presented at: Innovations in Dialysis: Expediting Advances Symposium; Aug. 31-Sept. 1, 2020 (virtual meeting).
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