Timeline: Medicare Payment for Dialysis

Medicare spending for outpatient dialysis and injectable drugs administered during dialysis was about $9.2 billion in 2009 and is a predominant share of revenues for dialysis facilities. According to MedPAC, “Medicare covers two methods of dialysis—hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. In hemodialysis, a patient’s blood is cycled through a dialysis machine, which filters out body waste.…

Medicare payments for outpatient dialysis

Today I will review how Medicare treats patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), relying largely on data from MedPAC’s 2011 Report to Congress. In 2009, about 340,000 dialysis beneficiaries were covered by fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare. Compared with all Medicare beneficiaries, dialysis FFS beneficiaries are disproportionately younger and African American. Ninety two percent of there beneficiaries…

Investigative Journalism: Medicare’s ESRD Program

Today, I will review an excellent piece of investigative journalism on Medicare’s end-stage renal disease (ESRD) program.  The program provides free access to medical care for patients with kidney disease.  Some highlights of these ProPublica report include the following: Program Inception “…the new program would help about 11,000 Americans, just for starters. For a modest…