Representative Bill Thomas (R-California), chair of the House Ways and Means committee, has announced a hearing on end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patient safety and quality issues. The hearing will take place on Wednesday, December 6. Unfortunately, testimony will be allowed from invited witnesses only, although anyone can submit a written statement for consideration for inclusion in the printed record.
In 1972, Medicare began to cover dialysis for ESRD patients. Between 1998 and 2003, treatment spending increased by almost 50 percent. Medicare currently spends about US$64,000 on each dialysis patient it covers.
According to Thomas’s advisory:
“In the last 10 years, mortality rates for ESRD patients have declined except for patients that have been receiving therapy for five or more years. During the same time period, however, hospitalizations for infections and cardiovascular complications are up 20 and 10 percent, respectively.”
Being that I’ve been a non-Medicare ESRD patient for six years, this doesn’t bode well.
Because Representative Thomas is retiring at the end of this session, maybe something worthwhile will come out of this hearing. Retiring politicos are nothing if not unpredictable.
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