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Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: News Articles => Topic started by: okarol on March 03, 2010, 12:59:05 PM
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SCHUMER, ARCURI URGE FEDS TO EXAMINE NEW TECHNOLOGY TO HELP SAVE LIVES OF DIALYSIS PATIENTS AND CUT UNNECESSARY COSTS - TECHNOLOGY IS PRODUCED BY ITHACA-BASED TRANSONIC SYSTEMS AND OTHERS
Procedure Could Improve Care for Dialysis Patients, Potentially Reduce Medicare Costs by $7.1B Over Ten Years
Monthly Dialysis Monitoring Procedure Can Be Performed With Equipment Produced in Ithaca by Transonic Systems
Adoption of Improved Procedure Opens Massive Market of Dialysis Clinics to Transonic Systems Could Mean New Business and Job Growth
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer and Congressman Michael Arcuri today wrote a personal letter to Charlene Frizzera, the Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), urging that the agency consider implementing monthly blood flow measurements for End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) kidney dialysis patients. The test is performed with technology such as that produced by Ithaca-based Transonic Systems, and has the potential to significantly cut costs and improve care. Should CMS adopt the blood flow measurement, Transonic Systems’ equipment could be in high demand among a wide network of dialysis clinics and various other health care providers – a new business outlet that could help patients, save money and create job growth. The letter was sent following a meeting Schumer had with Transonic last month. They asked Schumer to help break through the red tape and ask CMS to simply evaluate their technology that has the potential to save lives, save money, and create jobs.
Beyond the promise of job creation, Transonic’s Ultrasound Dilution Technology Monitor (UDT) could potentially reduce the frequency of inpatient hospital visits and cut Medicare costs by $3.1 billion over five years and $7.1 billion over ten years, according to an outside analysis
“This technology could potentially save lives, reduce costs, and create jobs – all at the same time,” said Schumer. “This is the type of job creation that will make New York a leader in twenty-first century technologies. It could make Medicare more cost-effective, keeps people healthier, and reduces crowding in emergency rooms- all thanks to the innovation and manufacturing expertise of New Yorkers. I urge Acting Administrator Frizzera to take a hard look at this technology as soon as possible.”
“Transonic has developed a technology which can help millions of people across the country deal with disease more effectively and at a lower cost,” Arcuri said. “Expanding this technology to a wider market not only means improved care but also means an increase in excellent local jobs and much needed cost-savings for the Medicare program. I will continue to encourage Acting Administrator Frizzera to review this technology and better understand all that Transonic has to offer the American people.”
ESRD kidney patients depend upon effective dialysis to preserve their health. The procedure links a patient’s blood vessels with a filtration machine that rids his blood of pathogens and impurities much like a healthy kidney would. But ESRD patients carry a high risk of sudden linkage failures treatable only with exhaustive, risky surgeries that cost Medicare $2 billion to $3 billion
in 2006 alone. Identifying the warning signs of impending linkage failures with the monthly UDT test could potentially drastically reduce the frequency of those failures.
One of the reasons Medicare does not currently require or incentivize dialysis clinics to use the monthly UDT test is because of its cost; however, the expense of such a requirement could potentially be saved many times over by preventing the avoidable dialysis failures that put patients in painful, costly surgeries also covered by Medicare. Schumer and Arcuri said that CMS should consider this technology and determine if its use would be beneficial.
In their letter to CMS Administrator Frizzera, Schumer and Arcuri wrote, “…this proposed rule change could greatly improve patients’ health and access to care, while possibly increasing savings to the Medicare program through reduced emergency hospital costs.” While the unemployment hovers just below ten percent in New York, Transonic Systems’ new equipment offers Medicare an opportunity to act on those goals while creating stable, long-term jobs. The full text of the letter is below.
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Ms. Charlene Frizzera
Acting Administrator
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Hubert Humphrey Building, Room 314
Washington, DC 20201
Dear Ms. Frizerra,
We write to respectfully urge the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to explore the efficacy of expanding requirements or incentives for hemodialysis facilities to perform monthly measurements of access blood flow for End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patients. Advocates of this approach believe that this proposed rule change could greatly improve patients’ health and access to care, while possibly increasing savings to the Medicare program through reduced emergency hospital costs.
For ESRD patients, vascular access is their link to life. However, all accesses are subject to progressive diseases or sudden failures that can reduce the quantity of blood flow through the vascular access. This can often result in critical, life threatening events to patients that require painful and costly surgical procedures.
Researchers have found that conducting monthly access flow surveillance through the use of several highly accurate and available technologies can reduce patient suffering, emergency procedures, hospitalization, and associated health care costs. We urge CMS to consider the efficacy of the National Kidney Foundation’s Kidney Disease Outcome Quality Initiative (KDOQI) guidelines, which state that sequential monthly measurement with trend analysis of intra-access flow is a preferred method to detect vascular access dysfunction in ESRD patients. The potential patient and cost benefits have been underscored by the 2008 Medicare Payment Advisory Commission report, which states, “Early identification of vascular access complications may reduce the morbidity and costs of repairing or replacing vascular access and improve patient outcomes.” Advocates of this approach believe these benefits can be reaped only if hemodialysis facilities are incentivized to perform KDOQI-recommended surveillance with hardware having the required measurement accuracy. But unfortunately, there is currently little incentive for dialysis clinics to perform monthly vascular access flow measurements because these facilities are unable to access savings for this procedure.
An outside analysis of these proposed
changes has found that their adoption could enhance hemodialysis patient care while potentially saving Medicare an estimated $3.1 billion over five years. As the nation looks towards preserving the viability of the Medicare program, we urge you to explore this opportunity to simultaneously improve quality of this crucial care for our ESRD patients and reduce costs to Medicare. Please do not hesitate to contact Ariel Simon of Senator Schumer’s staff at 202-224-6542 or Melinda Becker of Representative Arcuri’s staff at 202-225-3665 if they can assist you in any way. Thank you for your consideration of this important request.
Sincerely,
Charles Schumer Michael A. Arcuri
United States Senator United States Representative
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