"The American approach to dialysis become entrenched with the usual care of 3-4 hour sessions, three times a week ever since Medicare started paying for dialysis treatment in 1973. This standard of dialysis was chosen due mainly to the business model since the actual treatment standard of care at that time was 8 hour sessions, three times a week. Dialysis patients treated for 8 hours, three times a week had a 10% mortality statistic when Medicare intervened. This has skyrocketed here in America to 24% per year after business models sought their best return of money with shorter and shorter treatments despite worsening patient outcomes."
He goes on to make a case for researchers coming together to provide research in the way of a randomized control trial with a certain type of dialysis patients that are of higher risk in order to quickly show that Medicare that the current payment for dialysis is grossly inadequate and he finally asks all of us... " CKD-5 patients to urge their own health care teams to accomplish this easily randomized and controlled study." This I will do next week at my El Milagro Center.
If you agree with the ideas therein, do something to support them. I am forwarding the article to my Congressman, Lloyd Doggett, and my Senators Hutchinson and Cornyn.
ONWARD THROUGH THE FOG!
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