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Dialysis Patient Citizens Issues Statement on Passing of Congressman Donald Payne Jr. |
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 24, 2024) – Today, Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) Board President Andrew Conkling issued the following statement on the passing of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-NJ). Rep. Payne received dialysis treatment, advocated for better care and insurance coverage for dialysis patients, and spoke at a DPC advocacy event in Washington, DC.
“We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Congressman Payne, who was a true friend to Dialysis Patient Citizens and a tireless advocate for dialysis patients across the country,” said DPC Board President Andrew Conkling. |
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| DPC Seeks Information on Patients' Experience With Itching |
A couple of years ago, a new drug was approved to treat ESRD-related pruritis. Medicare approved an additional payment for the drug Korsuva for a period of 2 years. But, because of the short expiration date, very few nephrologists prescribed the medication, so even fewer dialysis facilities dispensed the drug. As a result, Korsuva never took hold to become the standard of care for pruritis.
We’d like to know (1) Have experienced pruritis? (2) If so, did your clinicians tell you about Korsuva? We would like to convey patients’ experiences as we ask for Medicare to revisit coverage: what it’s like to have pruritis and what kind of conversations you’ve had about it with your care team. If you have anything to share on these questions, please reply here.
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| DPC Celebrates 20th Anniversary |
Since our founding 20 years ago, Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) has had the privilege of working with amazing advocates to help elevate the patient voice with policy makers to improve their quality of life.
At our upcoming Advocacy Day Conference, May 5 – 7, 2024, we are excited to: honor the incredible work of our patient advocates; thank key Congressional Champions; and recognize some of our kidney community allies. Advocates from across the country will also take their stories to Capitol Hill to advocate for additional patient protections.
To all of our patient advocates, family members, care partners, and kidney community allies, we’d like to say thank you for an amazing 20 years, and we look forward to working with you to improve the lives of kidney patients for many years to come.
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Patient Ambassador Spotlight: |
Check out our Patient Ambassador Spotlight, where we highlight members who elevate the voices of people with kidney disease. This month’s Spotlight is on Pius Murray from Dover, New Hampshire.
When Pius started dialysis in 2013, dialysis patients were allowed to keep their private insurance for up to 30 months before moving to Medicare as their primary insurance. He had firsthand experience in how helpful it was to keep that coverage during the transition and appreciated the stability it provided during a very difficult time. A recent Supreme Court decision from 2022 may allow private insurers to reduce coverage of many life-saving dialysis services though. This jeopardizes dialysis patients’ abilities to focus on their health and wellbeing, since patients may have to worry about the hassle of switching to Medicare at the same time as they begin doing dialysis treatments.
There is a bill that has been introduced in the House, H.R. 6860 - The Restore Protections for Dialysis Patients Act, which would clarify that private insurers must continue supporting dialysis patients as they have in the past. Pius hopes that his representative, Chris Pappas, will stand with patients and vote in support of The Restore Protections for Dialysis Patients Act, and protect dialysis patients’ access to private insurance.
Patient Ambassadors represent DPC by serving as leaders in their community and local dialysis facilities. Learn more about this critical role and make a difference in the lives of dialysis patients by applying for DPC's Patient Ambassador program. |
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