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Dialysis Patients’ Guide to the Medicare ESRD Bundle

2024-03-28T21:05:06-04:00March 9th, 2016|Categories: Costs for Treatment, eNews, Fact Sheet|

Medicare is changing how it pays for dialysis, and this is expected to impact your care. These changes started in 2011 and will continue through 2016. This is a guide to what you need to know and what you can do to help ensure you continue to receive quality dialysis care during this transition period. HOW WAS DIALYSIS PAID FOR TRADITIONALLY? Dialysis treatments, injectable medications received in the clinic, laboratory tests and other items used to treat end stage renal disease (ESRD, also known as kidney failure) are paid for by Medicare Part B for most patients. However, before January [...]

Why DPC Supports Opening Medicare Advantage Enrollment to Dialysis Patients

2024-03-28T21:05:07-04:00March 8th, 2016|Categories: Costs for Treatment, Fact Sheet, The Kidney Citizen|

By Jackson Williams, Government Affairs Director for Dialysis Patient Citizens Would dialysis patients benefit from being allowed to enroll in Medicare managed care plans? Many health policy experts in Washington D.C. admire the leading integrated insurer/delivery systems such as Kaiser Permanente and Group Health Cooperative, and view them as models for transforming traditional Medicare. But outside of certain regions of the U.S., most American consumers remain skeptical of private health insurers. Managed care requires trading off retaining your choice of providers that traditional Medicare gives beneficiaries against a chance to receive other benefits. DPC does not advocate that ESRD patients [...]

Treatment Options for Kidney Disease

2024-03-28T21:05:08-04:00March 8th, 2016|Categories: eNews, Fact Sheet, Kidney Transplant, Peritoneal Dialysis|

There are many effective treatment options for kidney disease. Talk to your doctor about these options: Peritoneal Dialysis Hemodialysis Kidney Transplantation There is no one treatment option that is best for everyone. There are pros and cons to all three treatments. All of them work—you and your doctor just need to decide which one is best for you. Hundreds of thousands of people today are living well on dialysis or with a transplant. Each of them faced a decision like yours. And everyone who has been there will tell you the same thing: No matter which option you choose, you [...]

The Gift of Life: A Donor’s Perspective

2024-03-28T21:05:10-04:00March 8th, 2016|Categories: Fact Sheet, Kidney Transplant, The Kidney Citizen|

By Joanne Smith On August 11, 2015, I had the wonderful opportunity to provide a fellow human being with a kidney. Growing-up my grandfather told me “giving is a wonderful thing and it makes you feel real good.” He made me realize that when someone is giving something to you, they have the same opportunity to feel “real good.” I learned to be a generous giver, but more importantly to be a gracious receiver. This actually enables others to enjoy the feeling of being generous givers as well. So, please don’t be afraid to ask your friends and family members [...]

Basics of Chronic Kidney Disease

2024-03-28T21:05:11-04:00March 8th, 2016|Categories: Fact Sheet, Hemodialysis, Kidney Transplant, Medication, Peritoneal Dialysis, Symptoms, The Kidney Citizen, What Causes Kidney Disease|

Chronic kidney disease (CKD), also called chronic kidney failure, describes the gradual loss of kidney function. Your kidneys filter wastes and excess fluids from your blood, which are then removed from your body in your urine. When CKD reaches an advanced stage, dangerous levels of fluid, electrolytes and waste products can build up in your body and cause you harm. In the early stages of CKD, you may have few signs or symptoms, and may only be diagnosed with a blood and/or urine test. In fact, you may not feel sick from CKD up until most of your kidney function [...]

Hemodialysis Access for Patients

2024-03-28T21:05:13-04:00March 8th, 2016|Categories: Fact Sheet, Hemodialysis, The Kidney Citizen|

(The Care and Feeding of Your Dialysis Access) By Dr. Steve Curtiss Problems with dialysis access are a leading cause of complications and hospitalizations of patients with kidney disease. The more patients understand about their access, the more they are empowered and can become an important part of the healthcare team, which leads to an improved quality of life by staying out of the hospital and having efficient dialysis. It is also important for patients not yet on dialysis to understand the types of dialysis access available so they can be prepared and make informed choices about dialysis access when [...]

Basic Facts about Kidney Disease

2024-03-28T21:05:14-04:00March 8th, 2016|Categories: eNews, Fact Sheet, Home Hemodialysis, In-Center Hemodialysis, Kidney Transplant, Peritoneal Dialysis, What Is Kidney Disease|

Kidneys perform crucial functions within the body. When they fail there are only four treatment pathways available: Hemodialysis uses a dialyzer to act as an artificial kidney, peritoneal dialysis uses the body's own abdominal lining to filter wastes, a transplant comes from a living or deceased donor and palliative care is a strategy that aims to prevent stress and reduce pain at the end of life. Without hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis or a transplant, individuals with failing kidneys will die. Hemodialysis (HD)—Cleansing a patient’s blood of harmful toxins and excess fluids through use of an artificial kidney (dialyzer) and hemodialysis machine. [...]

“Transplant 101” Recording Now Available!

2024-03-28T21:05:18-04:00February 26th, 2016|Categories: eNews, Kidney Transplant, News & Events, Treatment, Webinar|

The DPC Education Center held its second education call of 2016 last Wednesday on the basics of kidney transplantation. Medical professionals from the Christiana Care Transplant Center provided patients with extensive information about the transplant process, including: who can become a candidate for a kidney transplant, the steps individuals must take have their names added to the transplant list and how the transplant list works. If you were unable to listen to the call live, the recording can be found below. Join the Education Center for its next education call on Living Well on Dialysis, scheduled for Tuesday, March 29, at [...]

Report Focuses on Quality of End-Of-Life Care

2024-03-28T21:05:19-04:00February 26th, 2016|Categories: eNews, Treatment|Tags: |

While it is hard to think about, advanced care planning is beneficial to family members and caregivers when a health crisis arises. A recent report suggests that the type of hospice care a patient receives until his or her death influences the family’s opinion on the quality of that care. Researchers surveyed more than 1100 family members of older patients who died from lung or colorectal cancer and found that family members were more likely to rate end-of-life care higher based on three factors: care lasting more than three days, avoidance of admission into the intensive care unit of a hospital [...]

Study Suggests a Lack of Utilization of Timely Kidney Transplants

2024-03-28T21:05:20-04:00February 26th, 2016|Categories: eNews, Kidney Transplant|

A “timely living donor kidney transplant” refers to when a patient receives a kidney from a living donor either before beginning dialysis or within a year of beginning dialysis. Research links timely transplants to better outcomes and higher survival rates for patients. A new study indicates there has been no increase in the utilization of this transplant method since 2006. Scientists from the Mayo Clinic and the University of Michigan studied the data of over 68,000 patients who received living donor transplants between 2000 and 2012. Results showed that while timely kidney transplants increased between 2000 and 2006, there was no [...]

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