Healthmap Blog

Lowering Costs & Improving Care in End-stage Renal Disease Treatment

The option of in-home dialysis offers significant benefits for payers, providers, and patients.

CMS Kidney Care Choices Deadline

The KCC model provides financial incentives for high-quality, efficient care of Medicare patients with Chronic Kidney Disease.

How Proactive Kidney Care Reduces Hospitalizations and Improves Outcomes

Chronic Kidney Disease and End-Stage Renal Disease require lifelong care. Complications can occur quickly and may include fluid retention, anemia, gout etc

COVID-19 and the Kidneys

Significant research has been published over the last few years indicating a link between COVID-19 and Acute Kidney Injury (AKI).

World Kidney Day: Kidney Health for All

March is National Kidney Month, time to generate awareness for the importance of kidney health and to reduce the instances and severity of CKD.

National Kidney Month Kickoff

March is National Kidney Month, time to generate awareness for the importance of kidney health and to reduce the instances and severity of CKD.

It’s National Heart Month….So Why are We Talking About the Kidneys?

February is American Heart Month and this year the focus is on hypertension, often referred to as high blood pressure. In the U.S., 30.3 million American adults have been diagnosed with heart disease , the leading cause of death in our country—and across the world, for men and women of all races. One of the major risk factors for developing heart disease is hypertension, a condition that affects 33.2%, of Americans aged 20+, and only one in four have the condition under control.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Announces End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Treatment Choices (ETC) Model

On September 18, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it had “finalized the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Treatment Choices (ETC) Model, to improve or maintain the quality of care and reduce Medicare expenditures for patients with chronic kidney disease. The ETC Model delivers on the Executive Order, “Advancing American Kidney Health” and encourages an increased use of home dialysis and kidney transplants to help improve the quality of life of Medicare beneficiaries with ESRD. The ETC Model will impact approximately 30 percent of kidney care providers and will be implemented on January 1, 2021 at an estimated savings of $23 million over five and a half years”.

In-Home Dialysis: Better Outcomes, Patient Experience and Costs

For ESRD patients, in-center dialysis has been the paradigm for dialysis management.. Of the number of newly diagnosed ESRD patients, 33% may have received little to no pre-ESRD nephrology care, and often “crash” into dialysis when renal failure drives them to the ER. For the majority of these patients, who are often unaware of their disease, overwhelmed by their diagnosis, and unaware of their options, in-center dialysis became the only option and today, continues to be the modality of choice.

The Countdown to the Cures Act: The Time for MA Plans to Prepare is Now

The Cures Act opens the door for previously ineligible end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients to enroll in a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan starting this fall. CMS expects an increase in the number of ESRD MA plan beneficiaries by 63%. ESRD patients are highly-complex and high-cost to care for and treat. MA plans still have time to get ready.