Here’s the latest about the proposed cuts by CMS to providers from Dialysis Patient Citizens…
CMS Delays Final Rule for Medicare ESRD Program
In July, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed a 9.4 percent cut to the Medicare End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Program. If CMS does not reverse its proposed cut, patients could see reduced staff hours for crucial staff like nurses and social workers. It may even lead some facilities to close their doors. DPC members did a fantastic job raising awareness about the potential impact to patient access and quality of care. In fact, more than 5,000 letters and e-mails were sent to Members of Congress by all of you, not to mention the countless print, radio and television outlets that covered the issue from your patient perspective.
CMS is now expected to issue its final rule on or before November 27, which will address these proposed cuts. This regulation was originally expected for release in early November. Unfortunately, the government shutdown prevented staff from doing any work for several days, including responding to comments submitted about these severe cuts. As a result, Congress will only be in session for two weeks after CMS makes its final decision on whether to implement such dramatic cuts to dialysis payment beginning January 1, 2014. Therefore, if you have not already contacted your legislators on this issue, please take a few moments to do so right now by clicking here.
Thank you to DPC for keeping us informed about this important issue. If you aren’t amember of Dialysis Patient Citizens, sign up. It’s free and no group represents our interests better than DPC. CLICK HERE to join.
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About DevonTexas
I am a person with ESRD (End Stage Renal Disease) which means my kidneys don't work. Forty or so years ago that would have been a death sentence but today there is Dialysis which means I could be hooked up to a machine that would clean my blood as the kidneys should. Three days a week, I went to a dialysis center and had too very large needles stuck in my arm to remove and replace my blood as it passed through a process where it was cleaned and the fluid was removed, a process taking a little over four hours each time.
In November 2017, I received a kidney transplant from a deceased donor. My life went into overdrive. With a "new" functioning kidney, I no longer had to go to a dialysis center and my days were not open to be lived rather than recovering from dialysis which meant dialyzing for three days and resting for 4 days a week. I work full-time and often 50 hours per week. It is something I never imagined. I highly recommend it! HeeHee
I want to advance knowledge about dialysis and transplant so that others can learn from my experience and mistakes. We shouldn't have to reinvent the wheel, eh? There is so much to be learned and experienced about our predicament. There are vast resources available to support us and enrich our lives but many patients don't know about them. There are also many issues that we have to deal with whether we want to or not. So I blog about them in www.DevonTexas.com
All comments are confidential until I approve them. If you don't want your comment public, let me know and I will respect that. So, feel free to leave a comment.
I also blog in LegacyTales in WordPress if you are interested in the ramblings of a Old Man. Give a peek and let me know what you think. https://legacytales.wordpress.com/
Enjoy.
DevonTexas 
Thank you so much for this! I signed up!