July 26, 2005 - Yesterday, the Washington Times published an article about the closing of five Fresenius Medical Care dialysis facilities that implied massive disrptions in the care of thousands of dialysis patients in the greater Washington, DC area. (See article.)

According to the article, "The closures affect about 5,000 local patients who have end-stage renal disease and rely on dialysis to survive."

For those readers experienced in dialysis facility operations, statements such as this seem to be conclusions from drawn from facts that fail to make clear distinctions between the small number of patients that were actually relocated when their facilities closed and the number of patients in the general area.

In a conversation late yesterday with a highly placed spokesperson with Fresenius Medical Care (FMC), I learned that four facilities in the DC area have been closed as part of a consolidation process. The closings affected approximately 100 patients. FMC worked with the patients to coordinate transportation changes.

The intent of the article was to publicize the financial difficulties in keeping certain dialysis facilities open that rely solely on Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. Without a change in federal legislation that would increase Medicare reimbursement, more consolidations are likely.