DPC Statement on End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule for Fiscal Year 2014

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Jul 02, 2013, 11:59 ET

WASHINGTON, July 2, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "We are appalled by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) proposal to dramatically reduce Medicare funding for the care of dialysis patients, which will put at risk both patient access and quality of care. More than 80% of dialysis patients rely on Medicare for their care and nearly half of those patients are on Medicaid or dual eligible. We cannot recall a time where CMS has proposed such a deep cut for any patient group, and are concerned that it would chose to do so for the treatment of some of America's most vulnerable citizens. While we recognize that CMS was instructed by Congress to adjust dialysis payment based on recent changes in utilization, no one in the kidney community expected CMS to propose such a devastating cut. Dialysis patients are already seeing a dramatic reduction in staffing hours due to several recent cuts in payment, and an additional 9.4% reduction would further jeopardize the quality of their care and most likely lead to significant facility closings. We urge CMS to reverse this proposal, which would adversely impact hundreds of thousands of Americans who rely on dialysis treatment in order to live."

PRESS CONTACT:
Jill Kennedy
202-789-6931

SOURCE Dialysis Patient Citizens