Sensing Savvy

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) remains a last ditch therapy to treat neonatal, pediatric and adult patients suffering from severe respiratory syndrome and/or cardiac failure after they have not responded to other medical treatments.

CMS announced a new voluntarily bundled-payment model, called the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement-Advanced Model (BPCI Advanced), that is considered the first alternative model proposed by the Trump administration. 

One in seven American adults, or 30 million people, are now estimated to have chronic kidney disease (CKD). Many people, however, don’t know they have it. 

Nephrology nursing can be a rewarding job. Many nephrology nurses enter the field wanting to make the process of dialysis easier for their patients and see it as an opportunity to connect on a deeper level with patients and their families. Dialysis nursing also has a predicted job growth rate of 26% over the next decade.

Most of us have recently filled out and paid our income taxes. The average income tax payment is about $10,000. But did you know that Medicaid and Medicare combined are one of the top expenditures from that average $10,000 we pay in tax dollars?

The Board of Directors at the National Association of Nephrology Technicians/Technologists (NANT) is seeking to better define the roles of nephrology technicians and technologists in contributing to the care of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. In line with these efforts, they have appealed to the 

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to change the current umbrella terminology "Patient Care Technicians" (PCTs) to "Nephrology Clinical Technicians" (NCTs) for those technicians that deal directly with patients, and "Nephrology Biomedical Technologists" (NBTs) for technologists that work with dialysis equipment.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is the slow break down of our kidneys' ability to filter fluid and waste products from our blood. The disease afflicts more than 2 million persons

worldwide and more than 650,000 persons in the United States. Kidneys don’t typically fail all at once, but their function usually declines slowly over a period of years. Frequently, CKD does not present symptoms in its early stages so it is often called “a silent killer.”

As an end-stage-renal disease (ESRD) hemodialysis patient, your access is your link to life. Knowing the blood flow in your access by Transonic Hemodialysis Monitor measurements is critical for your well being. But what can you do if you discover that your flows are trending down? First, you should talk with your nephrologist about your flows and solicit his or her feedback.

But what more can one do? It takes only a minute each day to check your access to safeguard your lifeline.

Chairman, Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation87th AATS President (2006-2007)

The Thelma and Henry Doelger Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery Stanford University 88th AATS President (2007-2008)

Dr. D. Craig Miller, the Thelma and Henry Doelger Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery at Stanford University, is, by his own admission, a cowboy and a maverick. He attributes his independent nature to growing up on cattle ranches owned and run by his physician father in northern California.