June 29, 2004 - The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced the release of Dialysis Facility Compare in the "next generation compare" format that provides users with simple navigation within the tool. Users will be able to search for dialysis facilities by State, County, City, Zip or Name. Proximity searches are now available when searches are made on City or Zip. In addition, a search can be narrowed to specific services offered by dialysis facilities. Users will find new text explanations and a lower reading level. Users can also search for additional web resources by population (CKD, Children, Transplant, etc.)

Dialysis Facility Compare enables users to compare information on three facility specific quality measures: anemia, hemodialysis adequacy, and patient survival.

May 8, 2004 - The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the following message on May 7.

"An ESRD Stakeholders Meeting was held in Baltimore on March 25, 2004. The topics discussed at the meeting were the Evaluation of the Dialysis Facility Compare Website and the ESRD CAHPS (Patient Experience of Care) Survey. As a follow-up, we have posted the background reports for the Dialysis Facility Compare website evaluation and the ESRD CAHPS initiative on the CMS website.

If you would like to access these materials, as well as other ESRD project reports, please click on this link www.cms.hhs.gov/esrd/3a.asp.

Additionally, CMS has set up an email address to receive comments on ESRD CAHPS. The address is ESRDCAHPS@cms.hhs.gov.

Thank you."

These links provide access the reports mentioned in the above message:

• "Evaluation of the Content of the Dialysis Facility Compare Website: Final Report" - 214-page report in pdf format
  
  
  
• CAHPS�--Hemodialysis Patient Experience of Care Survey - Project home page

[This message has been edited by Gary Peterson (edited 07-22-2004).]