Trump Administration Announces Plan to Change Kidney Care in the U.S.
President Trump signed an executive order to launch Advancing American Kidney Health, which is designed to increase earlier intervention, incentivize dialysis providers to direct more patients to home hemodialysis and increase the number of kidneys available for transplant.
Specifically, the initiative aims to:
Hemodialysis patients who do not feel well at the end of a session are subject to an unidentified decrease in Cardiac Index. End-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients are at increased risk of complications and death from cardiovascular disease (CVD). In fact, mortality rates from CVD are up to 30 times higher for ESRD patients than those in the general population.
Outset Medical Appoints New Chief Financial Officer
Rebecca Chambers is the company’s new CFO. Prior to joining Outset Medical, Chambers worked at Illumina Inc.
Source: Nephrology News & Issues
In the early 1960s, the demand for dialysis outweighed its availability, which meant many patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) or chronic kidney disease were turned away from treatment.
After the 15-year-old daughter of a friend of Les Babb’s was denied dialysis treatment, Babb, a professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Washington and Belding Schriber set to work developing a small home dialysis system. A few months later in London, Stanley Shaldon began using a similar machine to treat dialysis patients at home.
Since there was no government funding to pay for treatment in the ’60s, home hemodialysis became an affordable treatment option for patients.
California’s Legislation of Dialysis Profit Restriction Could Cause DaVita to Lose Up to $40 Million
DaVita has estimated it could lose up to $40 million in revenue if California’s restricting dialysis profits and use of third-party payers to cover Medicare premiums becomes law. The company spent $30 million in Q4 2018 in an effort to counter union policy efforts and spent $93 million on advocacy efforts last year.Source: Nephrology News & Issues
As a nephrology professional who has devoted countless hours of volunteer time to support the body of work reflected in the 2006 National Kidney Foundation’s Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) guidelines on vascular access, it is difficult to witness the “march of time” with regards to the arteriovenous fistula (AVF) as the best access for patients on dialysis.
Topics: KDOQI
The same concerns over process of care related to the KDOQI VA proposed changes that reverse the momentum of the past guidelines and Fistula First (identifying early indications of assess dysfunction, staff assessment competency) also apply to hemodialysis catheters. The proposed guidelines suggest that hemodialysis catheters could be a viable long-term access choice. Similar to the limitations on assessment skills, many states restrict the accessing of a central venous catheter to a licensed nurse. Questions raised by the proposed guidelines include:
Dialysis facilities typically open early in the morning Monday to Saturday. The first shift of patients must get their treatments initiated to prevent delays for the later patient shifts. Commonly, limited licensed nursing staff is on duty to perform any needed early morning assessments. The One Minute Check has now been shortened to 10 seconds in some facilities in order to save time. Once the needles are placed, it is not safe to perform the check or a higher-level expert examination. Typically, the nephrologist and advance practice team members see dialysis patients once they are on their way to treatment. They may be able to assess later shift patients before their needles are inserted. However, routine process of care makes it very difficult for nephrologists to fully assess the AVF or AVG with an expert-level physical exam detailed in the current draft of the KDOQI Guideline updates.
Topics: KDOQI
A quick review of the process of care is critical to understand how the proposed KDOQI Vascular Access Guidelines will impact the dialysis facilities and thus the patients.
Topics: KDOQI
The National Dialysis Accreditation Commission (NDAC) has been approved by CMS to conduct dialysis facility surveys. It is the first independent company approved by CMS to do so. According to Nephrology News & Issues, “Dialysis providers successfully completing NDAC’s accreditation process may now be awarded Medicare certification from CMS based on their accreditation with recommendation for deemed status by NDAC.” Accreditation services will be offered in all 50 states and U.S. territories.
Source: Nephrology News & Issues
