Medicare Changes for Kidney Patients Could be Ahead

The Association of Minority Nephrologists and the National Minority Quality Forum have released a report detailing changes that are currently under consideration from the current U.S. Congress. Lawmakers are discussing altering the current way that Medicare pays for patient care under the End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) program. Under the status quo program Medicare pays 80 percent of medical costs for an estimated 485,000 ESRD patients. The total payout from Medicare for dialysis, transplants, patient care on both an inpatient and outpatient basis for the ESRD patients is estimated to be around $20 billion. Presently, Medicare reimburses dialysis units at a 'composite rate' that they government sets to cover cost of related supplies and equipment. These facilities then receive a separate payment from Medicare to cover the costs of injectable drugs and diagnostic tests. Congress is considering action to have these two payments grouped together in a new government specified 'bundled rate' for ESRD program participants. The current congress is not the first to consider such a program, starting in the 1990's previous legislatures had researched this cost saving option. However, the research showed that bundling the costs had the possibility of keeping beneficiaries from getting needed medical therapies.

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