Policy and Politics News

Sources of Healio | Nephrology News & Issues have made it clear that the explosive growth in the number of patients with end-stage kidney disease that join Medicare Advantage plans has overwhelmed everyone — payers and providers alike.

Passage of the 21st Century Cures Act in 2021 allowed Medicare beneficiaries with end-stage kidney disease to enroll in Medicare Advantage plans regardless of their previous coverage or when they were diagnosed.

A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate would require private health plans to continue to pay for dialysis for beneficiaries with end-stage kidney disease while they coordinate a transition to Medicare coverage.

Legislators have introduced a bill that would provide up to $50,000 in tax benefits over 5 years to an individual who donates a non-directed kidney.

On June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce to overturn a decades-old decision known as the “Chevron deference.”

DaVita Inc. has agreed to pay more than $34 million to settle allegations brought by a former employee that it paid kickbacks to competitors and physicians in exchange for directing business to its patient care and pharmacy businesses.

Proposed changes released earlier this month by CMS to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for 2025 should have a minimal impact on payments to nephrologists, according to a summary by the Renal Physicians Association.

In 2019, former President Donald Trump signed the Advancing American Kidney Health initiative.

Financial incentives offered to providers in a CMS payment model have failed to increase home dialysis and kidney transplantation rates in the first 2 years of the demonstration, published findings show.