Today, the Ways and Means Committee unanimously approved bipartisan legislation to help Americans suffering from chronic kidney disease — otherwise known as end-stage renal disease or ESRD. Known as the Dialysis PATIENTS Demonstration Act (H.R. 5942), the bill establishes a voluntary program within Medicare so ESRD patients can access high-quality, coordinated care that will improve health care outcomes, save patients’ time and money, and help lower costs to Medicare.

As bill sponsor Rep. Todd Young (R-IN) explained: 

“By improving care coordination for end-stage renal disease patients, we can not only reduce health care costs, but allow our most vulnerable individuals to live healthier, more active lives.

“This program utilizes the dialysis facility as a central command point for patients to access coordinated health care services—sparing patients time, money, and multiple trips in and out of various providers’ offices—all while producing better health outcomes.”

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), who joined Rep. Young in introducing the bill, added:

“I am hopeful that we will be able to embrace this very targeted pilot project to be able to see if we can coax more value out of the time and energy [dialysis patients] invest and … give them a higher quality of life …

“This is a mechanism to help people in ways that will give them better care … and simplify their life in an extraordinarily difficult set of circumstances.”

CLICK HERE for more information about today’s markup.