National Dialysis Accreditation Commission Gets Approval from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
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
DaVita Acquires Coastal Physicians Medical Group
Healthcare Partners, a division of DaVita, has announced a merger with Coastal Physicians Medical Group. The group has been a partner of Healthcare Partners for 20 years.
Source: Nephrology News & Issues
U.S. Seeking to Cut Dialysis Costs with More Home Care
The Trump administration is working on a new payment plan for the treatment of kidney disease that favors an at-home approach. According to Reuters, the treatment of chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease is a top area of spending for the U.S. government.
“The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which provides Medicare health benefits to more than 55 million Americans, is looking at a trial payment design that would improve care in the early stages of kidney disease, increase access to kidney transplants and favor home dialysis over clinic-based treatment,” reports Reuters.
Source: Reuters
Sertraline Outperforms Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Hemodialysis Patients with Depression
A new study found that Sertraline modestly outperforms CBT for patients on maintenance hemodialysis. The open-label trial consisted of 41 dialysis centers over three months. The trial consisted of two phases, with 184 patients in Phase 1 and 120 patients in Phase 2.
Source: Renal & Urology News
Peritoneal Dialysis and Home Hemodialysis Show Lower Costs
Medical and societal costs for patients on peritoneal dialysis and home hemodialysis were lower than those patients receiving in-center hemodialysis, a study from Hong Kong found. The study evaluated the economic burden of the first and second years after patients with end-stage renal disease initiated peritoneal dialysis, nocturnal home hemodialysis or hospital-based hemodialysis.
Peritoneal dialysis had the lowest costs, followed by nocturnal home hemodialysis, then hospital-based dialysis.
Source: Nephrology News & Issues
Some Cancers Have Better Survival Rates than Dialysis
Researchers tracked end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients receiving dialysis over an 18-year-period and found these patients had a higher rate of death than patients with certain solid organ cancers such as breast, colorectal, lung, pancreas or prostate. The lead researcher wrote that his team undertook the study based on the belief that “an understanding of prognosis for maintenance dialysis patients may be improved if placed in the context of a more common condition such as cancer” and it would “help put the mortality burden of dialysis patients into context and could have implications for future funding and policy decisions.”
Source: Nephrology News & Issues
