Policy and Politics News

A new study that evaluated costs and care quality for hip and knee replacements shows that the average cost dropped 20.8%, while the effect on quality of care was unchanged or improved.

I once had a history professor that quipped, “You can tell what problems a country had difficulty tackling by the number and frequency of laws it issued. The more laws about the same problem, the more difficult that problem was.” This notion seems pertinent to the transformation of Medicare into a quality-based reimbursement program.

The past 12 months have been busy for the renal care industry –– passage of new legislation, controversy over dialysis patients in ACA health exchanges, and some positive steps: Lower mortality rates for ESRD patients.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, introduced the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic (CHRONIC) Care Act of 2016 (S. 3504) on Dec. 6, which includes a section that would expand the ability of Medicare beneficiaries on home dialysis to receive required monthly clinical assessments using telehealth, beginning in 2018.

More than half a million people in the U.S. live with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and require renal replacement therapy.

President Obama signed the 21st Century Cures Act Dec. 13. The legislation, which addresses funding for the National Institutes of Health and makes regulatory changes to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, also includes a provision that allows end-stage renal disease patients to choose Medicare Advantage plans. The bill was approved by the Senate Dec. 7 by a vote of 94-5, and passed through the House of Representatives on Nov. 30 by a 392-26 margin.

The following is a statement from the Chronic Disease Coalition executive director Scott Bruun  in response to an interim final rule issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, regarding dialysis companies providing premium assistance for individual marketplace plans either directly, or through a third party. 

The following is a statement from Dialysis Patient Citizens in response to an interim final rule issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, regarding dialysis companies providing premium assistance for individual marketplace plans either directly, or through a third party. 

The following is a statement from the National Kidney Foundation in response to an interim final rule issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, regarding dialysis companies providing premium assistance for individual marketplace plans either directly, or through a third party. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued an interim final rule rule Dec. 12 that cracks down on dialysis providers who counsel patients about health care plans.