The members of The Kidney Care Council (KCC) applaud the End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) provisions that were included in the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008, H.R. 6331 that was approved overwhelmingly today in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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"This legislation contains significant and long overdue improvements to Medicare's ESRD program that will ensure continued high quality patient care as well as modernize a reimbursement system that both MedPAC and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and others have recommended," said Rob Foreman, President of the KCC. "We are delighted that the legislation includes the establishment of a new permanent market basket update mechanism for the first time. Providers of renal dialysis services are the only providers under a prospective payment system without a regular, annual update mechanism. The House passage of the ESRD provisions is clearly an historic moment in the dialysis world," continued Foreman.
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"The legislation also contains new and critically important provisions to increase access to pre-dialysis education and disease management which will produce better clinical outcomes, improve patient quality of life and create a positive impact on the Medicare program overall. We are hopeful that the Senate will favorably receive these bipartisan provisions."
The Kidney Care Council (KCC) is a nonprofit Washington-based health care trade association of eleven renal care companies that collectively provide End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) services to nearly 80 percent of the dialysis patients in the United States. The membership includes large, small, nonprofit and for-profit provider companies. The KCC's mission is to improve patient care through demonstrable improvements in patient outcomes, patient safety, and quality of life measures. The KCC is dedicated to improving quality as well as promoting education so that newly diagnosed patients fully understand this disease and how to slow its progression and reduce complications.
SOURCE Kidney Care Council