Kidney Failure and the Federal Government

Since 1972, many victims of endstage renal disease (ESRD) have received treatment under a unique Medicare entitlement. This book presents a comprehensive analysis of the federal ESRD program: who uses it, how well it functions, and what improvements are needed.

The book includes recommendations on patient eligibility, reimbursement, quality assessment, medical ethics, and research needs.

Kidney Failure and the Federal Government offers a wealth of information on these and other topics:

• The ESRD patient population.
• Dialysis and transplantation providers.
• Issues of patient access and availability of treatment.
• Ethical issues related to treatment initiation and termination.
• Payment policies and their relationship to quality of care.

This book will have a major impact on the future of the ESRD program and will be of interest to health policymakers, nephrologists and other individual providers, treatment site administrators, and researchers.

• Front Matter
• Part I: Overview, Summary
• Introduction
• Part II: Patients and Providers, Perspectives of ESRD Patients
• Ethical Issues
• The Patient Population
• The ESRD Patient Population: Special Groups
• Structure of the Provider Community
• Part III: Access, Access Problems of ESRD Patients
• Access to Kidney Transplantation
• Part IV: Reimbursement and Quality, Medicare ESRD Payment Policy
• Reimbusement Effects on Quality
• Outpatient Dialysis Reimbursement Issues
• Quality Assessment and Assurance
• Part V: Data and Research, Data Systems
• Research Needs
• Appendix A: Glossary
• Appendix B: Acronyms and Initialisms
• Appendix C: Commissioned Papers and Contractor Reports
• Appendix D: Survival Analysis Methods for the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Program of Medicare
• Appendix E: Institute of Medicine ESRD Study Committee Public Hearing, May 5, 1989, Chicago, Illinois
• Appendix F: Institute of Medicine ESRD Study Committee Public Hearing on
• Appendix G: Institute of Medicine ESRD Study Committee Workshop on ESRD Staffing, November 3, 1989, Washington, D.C.
• Appendix H: Institute of Medicine ESRD Study Committee Workshop on Kidney Transplantation, December 13, 1989, Washington, D.C.
• Appendix I: Institute of Medicine ESRD Study Committee Workshop on Black and Other Nonwhite ESRD Patients, May 15, 1990, Washington, D.C.
• Appendix J: Institute of Medicine ESRD Study Committee ESRD Patient Focus-Group Participants
• Index