DAILY HEMODIALYSIS—SELECTED TOPICS: The Direction of End‐Stage Renal Disease Reimbursement in the United States

In the 1960s, care of the end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patient changed. Either through transplantation or intermittent hemodialysis ESRD patients were able to live longer. The Gottschalk Committee issued the "Report of the Committee on Chronic Kidney Disease" to the Bureau of Budget. This report established that hemodialysis and kidney transplantation were the standard of care for the treatment of ESRD patients. Section 2991 of the Social Security Amendment of 1972 provided that patients with ESRD who qualified for Medicare were entitled to receive dialysis and/or transplantation nationwide. The first Medicare hearing held in 1975 regarding the Medicare ESRD program found that the cost of the program was much greater than had been predicted in 1972. Ever since 1975, accelerating cost has been a concern of the government. Quality of care for ESRD patients has been a major focus of the renal community and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) over the past 10 years. Consensus for entitlement has remained, but the staggering cost of the program as a whole has become a major problem that must be addressed. Since 1978, Congress and the CMS have passed laws and developed demonstration projects to improve quality of care and reduce costs in the Medicare ESRD program. Kt/V, urea reduction ratio (URR), and hemoglobin levels have all improved, but hospital admissions have remained unchanged and mortality rates have increased. Do the renal community and CMS need to rethink how they will improve the quality of care for ESRD patients and reduce costs in the Medicare ESRD program?