Californians turn down initiative on dialysis clinic rules
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California voters turned down a union-backed ballot initiative by more than a 2-1 margin on election night that would have created stricter rules for dialysis clinic operations.
According to state election officials, 69.6% (4,907,535) of those who responded to the Dialysis Clinic Requirement Initiative voted no; 30.3% (2,142,464) voted yes.
Contributions by dialysis providers to the “No on Prop 29” campaign. Data were derived from Ballotpedia.
Proposition 29 was sponsored by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) — the same organization that launched a similar ballot in the state in 2020, along with one in 2018 that called for limiting dialysis profits to 15% more than the cost of providing dialysis services.
Both measures were defeated by voters.
“There is no good reason that dialysis patients should be put in harm’s way year after year by this special interest union,” Bryan Wong, MD, of the East Bay Nephrology Medical Group, said in a press release from the group No on 29: Stop Yet Another Dangerous Dialysis Proposition, a political action committee (PAC) funded by dialysis providers. “Voters made the compassionate choice and voted to protect patients.”
According to the No on Proposition 29 coalition, more than 70 groups opposed the initiative.
Proposition 29 would have required outpatient dialysis providers operating in California to:
- have an on-site licensed medical professional, such as a nurse practitioner, physician assistant or nephrologist, supervise all outpatient dialysis treatments;
- provide a list of physicians who have ownership interest of 5% or more at the facility where patients are receiving treatment;
- report dialysis-related infections to the California Department of Public Health;
- seek state approval in writing before closing or substantially reducing services at a dialysis facility; and
- accept all patients to a facility for treatment regardless of the source of payment.
The ballot propositions from the UHW have been aimed at DaVita Kidney Care and Fresenius Kidney Care, which treat about 75% of the 80,000 patients who receive dialysis in California. UHW, which has unionized hospital workers in California, has said that it is interested in unionizing dialysis center workers in the state.
"There’s just so much improvement that can be made, and there’s plenty of resources in the industry to make those improvements,” David Miller, research director of SEIU-UHW, said in a statement from the union supporting the measure.
According to Ballotpedia, the No on 29 PAC raised over $86.4 million to fight the ballot measure, with DaVita Inc. contributing $52.7 million of that amount. Fresenius Medical Care contributed $27.3 million.
The political action committee Californians for Kidney Dialysis Patient Protection raised over $7.9 million from the SEIU-UHW West to fund a campaign supporting the measure, according to Ballotpedia.
Reference:
California Proposition 29, Dialysis Clinic Requirements Initiative (2022). https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_29,_Dialysis_Clinic_Requirements_Initiative_(2022)#Support. Accessed November 10, 2022.
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