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Supreme Court Erases Kidney Patients’ Insurance Protections

2024-03-28T20:57:47-04:00October 27th, 2022|Categories: Costs for Treatment, The Kidney Citizen, Treatment|

By Megan Hashbarger, DPC Vice President of Government Relations and Jackson Williams, DPC Vice President of Public Policy A U.S. Supreme Court ruling has nullified the law that protects dialysis patients from discrimination by insurers, threatening the system of financing kidney care that has stood for 40 years. The Court ruled that employer health plans may limit dialysis benefits. For four decades, employers understood the law as prohibiting limitations that only applied to dialysis. Some health benefit consultants encouraged a few small employers to disregard the law by paying no more than Medicare rates for dialysis. DaVita [...]

Navigating a Renal Diet: Decoding the Mystery

2024-03-28T20:57:49-04:00October 27th, 2022|Categories: Dialysis, Kidney Transplant, Nutrition, Staying Healthy, The Kidney Citizen|

By Fanny Sung Whelan, MS, RDN, LDN How to navigate a renal diet based on your kidneys’ needs No matter what stage of kidney disease you’re in, all of the different diet recommendations can cause your head to spin. Pair it with other conditions you may have, and you’ve got a real recipe for confusion! So how can you sort out all of the differences in what you can and can’t eat? Here we are going to outline the diet guidelines for the different stages of kidney disease. Disclaimer: it is important to discuss any diet changes with your [...]

Digital Health Records – You can now access them, but not easily

2024-03-28T20:57:53-04:00October 7th, 2022|Categories: eNews, Quality of Life, Treatment|

On October 6, 2022, new federal rules took effect that require health care organizations to give patients unrestricted access to their digital health records. These rules that were passed under the 21st Century Cares Act are designed to empower patients by not only giving them the ability to access their own data, but also decide who to share that data with, which was previously not the case. This means that patients can better understand their care, shop for services, and engage in their own research. It also removes roadblocks such as fees and delays that were the norm for patients requesting [...]

Organ Transplants Are Up, but the Agency in Charge Is Under Fire

2024-03-28T20:57:55-04:00September 20th, 2022|Categories: Dialysis, eNews, Kidney Transplant|

By Blake Farmer, Nashville Public Radio September 7, 2022 For the past decade, Precious McCowan’s life has revolved around organ transplants. She’s a doctoral candidate studying human behavior in Dallas who has survived two kidney transplants. And in the midst of her end-stage renal disease, her 2-year-old son died. She chose to donate his organs in hopes they would save a life. Now her kidney function is failing again, and she’s facing the possibility of needing a third transplant. But the process of finding that lifesaving organ is rife with problems. Roughly 5,000 patients a year are dying on the waitlist — even as [...]

World’s First HIV-Positive to HIV-Positive Heart Transplant Performed

2024-03-28T20:57:59-04:00August 4th, 2022|Categories: eNews, Kidney Transplant|

Earlier this spring, a woman in her 60s became the first to receive an HIV-positive to HIV-positive heart transplant. She suffered from advanced heart failure and received the donation, which happened simultaneously with a kidney transplant, during a four-hour surgery at Montefiore Health System in the Bronx. The woman spent five weeks recovering in the hospital and is currently being monitored by transplant physicians at Montefiore. In 2013, the HIV Organ Policy Equality Act enabled people living with HIV to donate their organs to HIV-positive recipients, but this is the first time this opportunity has been able to happen for heart [...]

Will the COVID-19 Pandemic Ever End?

2024-03-28T20:57:59-04:00August 1st, 2022|Categories: Dialysis, eNews, Immunizations, Mental Health, The Kidney Citizen|Tags: |

By Alan S. Kliger, MD, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, and Chair, Excellence in Patient Care Advisory Committee, American Society of Nephrology Updated October 2022 Some recent quotes I’ve heard - - - I’ll bet you have too: “Who can even pay attention when the subject of COVID-19 is raised?” “Enough already – I’m through with it” “What’s the difference? Even with vaccines and boosters, I still got COVID twice!” After nearly three years of this pandemic, COVID-19 infection has gone from a frightening and deadly disease to a major disruptor of our lives, to [...]

Just how accurate are rapid antigen tests? Two testing experts explain the latest data

2024-03-28T20:58:02-04:00July 1st, 2022|Categories: eNews, Immunizations, Staying Healthy, Uncategorized|Tags: |

Once in short supply, rapid antigen tests are now available throughout the U.S. Nathaniel Hafer, UMass Chan Medical School and Apurv Soni, UMass Chan Medical School As of May 2022, the U.S. is experiencing another uptick in the number of COVID-19 cases. High rates of infection in Europe and Asia, along with the continued emergence of new sub-variants, such as omicron BA.4 and BA.5, raise concerns that another surge could be on the way. Even though demand for COVID-19 tests greatly overwhelmed supply earlier in the pandemic, rapid home tests are more available today. While home tests provide a quick, [...]

Value-Based Health Care & Medicare – Weighing the Pros and Cons

2024-03-28T20:58:03-04:00June 14th, 2022|Categories: Costs for Treatment, eNews, Medication, Treatment|

Value-based care has become a hot topic in the health care industry. The model of paying providers bonuses for better patient health outcomes and penalizing them for poor outcomes may seem like a great idea and one that would encourage a more holistic approach to patient care. Some health care experts have concerns about what this means for people on Medicare Advantage (MA), though; specifically, there may be more focus on costs and less focus on quality. Janice Horowitz, author of Health Your Self, has three primary concerns when it comes to value-based care in MA plans: Restrictions on where you [...]

Medicare Surprise: Drug Plan Prices Touted During Open Enrollment Can Rise Within a Month

2024-03-28T20:58:04-04:00June 6th, 2022|Categories: Costs for Treatment, eNews, Medication|

By Susan Jaffe May 3, 2022 Something strange happened between the time Linda Griffith signed up for a new Medicare prescription drug plan during last fall’s enrollment period and when she tried to fill her first prescription in January. She picked a Humana drug plan for its low prices, with help from her longtime insurance agent and Medicare’s Plan Finder, an online pricing tool for comparing a dizzying array of options. But instead of the $70.09 she expected to pay for her dextroamphetamine, used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, her pharmacist told her she owed $275.90. “I didn’t pick it up because [...]

Advocate for Your Health!

2024-03-28T20:58:06-04:00May 27th, 2022|Categories: eNews, Treatment|

Written by Orlando A. Torres, a DPC Patient Ambassador from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico Last year, I participated in my first Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) virtual Fly-In. DPC is an advocacy organization that represents all kidney patients in our community. The Fly-In was a virtual event where kidney patients, along with DPC staff, and other advocates, engaged in conversations with Congress members and their staffers in relation to new legislation to benefit renal patients. We discussed the concept of the Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act that extended Medicare coverage of life saving immunosuppressive medications for the [...]

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