Policy and Politics News

NN&I asked Donna Bednarski, RN, MSN, ANP-BC, CNN, Kidney Care Partners consultant for the American Nephrology Nurses Association (ANNA), and Robert Blaser, director of public policy for the Renal Physicians Association, for their thoughts on what the next 12 months could look like for health care reform in the United States.

Undocumented immigrants in the United States with end-stage renal disease are finding refuge in hospital emergency rooms for treatment, but that care is often inadequate and inferior to standard dialysis care, according to data recently published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The shared savings approach in the ongoing Comprehensive ESRD Care Model demonstration, now ending its second full year with 13 physician-provider seamless care organizations, or ESCOs, encourages better management of the highest costs of care, like pharmaceuticals and hospitalizations. These two line items have historically been the most expensive for Medicare in the ESRD Program.

A rally by the National Organization for Rare Disorders and advocacy campaigns by the Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation and others have been aimed at convincing Congress to restore a tax credit for pharmaceutical companies that develop drugs for rare diseases.

Leaders at the American Society of Nephrology have expressed concerns that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Bill Act, passed by the House of Representatives on Nov. 16 and the Senate on Dec. 2, has provisions that could hurt patient care and impact the pipeline of future scientists.

Starting Jan. 1, CMS will begin paying separately for dialysis treatments for patients with acute kidney injury who receive care in skilled nursing facilities.

A new set of practice guidelines aims to help transplant professionals provide better evaluation and care for living kidney donors.

Electronic medical record systems (EMRs) are the lifeblood of dialysis facilities; they avoid the gaps in documentation that occur with paper records, enhance consistency, and improve facility efficiency. But they can also create vulnerabilities when it comes to litigation and regulatory investigations. This article will cover the potential risks of EMRs in e-discovery and explain what best practices health care facilities can follow to avoid these risks. It also addresses how to mitigate the challenges of data loss or destruction, improper corrections to medical records, inaccurate data entry, and errors that arise during the use of EMRs, among other issues.

Twenty-six states have passed legislation to enact the enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC). Per the bill, “This Compact shall become effective and binding on the earlier of the date of legislative enactment of this Compact into law by no less than twenty-six (26) states or December 31, 2018.” The states include Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Dialysis providers will see a slight Medicare reimbursement increase in 2018, according to the final rule the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released on Oct. 27. The rule updates payment policies and rates under the End-Stage Renal Disease Prospective Payment System (PPS) for dialysis services furnished to beneficiaries on or after Jan. 1, 2018.