NKF, ASN call on government to ensure dialysis facilities have necessary supplies
The National Kidney Foundation and the American Society of Nephrology released a joint statement urging the U.S. government to ensure dialysis facilities have access to necessary supplies and staff.
According to the statement, the COVID-19 pandemic caused staffing and dialysis supply shortages in the past 2 years which resulted in some facility closures. As the omicron variant spreads, patients with kidney failure and those caring for them are at risk of losing access to dialysis treatment.
NFK and ASN encouraged federal, state and local governments to do the following:
- intervene to “alleviate supply crises (eg, dialysate concentrates) at dialysis facilities” stemming from shortages in warehouse and trucking personnel;
- distribute “high-level, government-approved” face masks to dialysis centers;
- pause the CMS regulation that requires “use of pre-filled saline syringes, which are not available in some locations, until the acute crisis passes;” and
- encourage government at all levels to permit “reciprocity for nurses to allow for intrastate practice, regardless of whether the state is a compact state, during this acute crisis.”
Additionally, the NKF and ASN recalled the failure by the federal government to prioritize patients on dialysis at the start of the pandemic and asked the Biden administration to give patients on dialysis and staff priority access to COVID-19 therapeutics.
“We must not allow this same mistake to happen again,” the groups said in the statement.
NKF and ASN concluded, “It is imperative that the U.S. does everything in its power to prepare for future surges in COVID-19 cases and prevent needless deaths among our most vulnerable people. NKF and ASN stand ready to partner with policymakers and manufactures to accomplish this goal.”
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