October 20, 2001 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) yesterday launched a national education campaign to help Medicare beneficiaries take advantage of the resources available to them. (link is no longer available) The campaign includes national television ads and the mailing of the Medicare & You 2002 Handbook to beneficiaries� homes. The campaign highlights important coverage options and improved information resources, including an expanded 24-hour toll-free telephone service and new decision tools at the Medicare web site.

The decision tools include the Dialysis Facility Compare feature (see below).

Information Updated in Dialysis Facility Compare Database

July 31, 2001 - On July 26 (approximately), the Dialysis Facility Compare database was updated with the latest available information.

The Dialysis Facility Compare web site is a feature on the Medicare web site. The Dialysis Facility Compare (DFC) feature provides both demographic information and 'quality measures' on dialysis facilities that have been approved by Medicare. The three quality measures are:

• The percent of patients at a facility with a Urea Reduction Ratio (URR) of 65 or greater (known as adequacy of hemodialysis). The adequacy (URR) results are now based on 1999 data, updated from 1998.
  
  
  
• The percent of patients treated with Epogen� with a hematocrit of 33 or greater. The anemia (hematocrit) results, which had been removed in February, have been restored and are now also based on 1999 data.
  
  
  
• Patient survival information. The survival data, which was previously based on the period from 1996-1998, is now based on the period from 1997 to June 30, 2000.

Before reviewing this data, be sure to view the Data Collection Details, the Glossary, adequacy data explanations, anemia data explanations, and survival data explanations from the DFC web site. According to Medicare, the source of the adequacy, anemia, and patient survival information is updated continuously and may undergo some level of review. However, not all items have been checked independently to verify accuracy.

Please keep in mind that this adequacy and anemia information is from 1999 and the survival data is for the period from 1997 to June 30, 2000. The data is limited to the information for Medicare beneficiaries on dialysis and who are receiving hemodialysis. Therefore, depending on the number of Medicare beneficiaries at a particular facility, the data for the entire patient population at that facility may actually vary from what is presented here. Contact the facility for their most current information, their non-Medicare patients adequacy information and adequacy information for patients who are on peritoneal dialysis.

Top-rated Dialysis Facilities

There are six facilities that are in the top 10% for dialysis adequacy (URR), the top 10% for anemia management, and have a better than expected patient survival rate. According to RenalWEB's analysis of the adequacy and anemia data from 1999 and the survival data from 1997 to June 30, 2000, the dialysis facilities with best Dialysis Facility Compare quality measures are:

RMCH - ZUNI, Zuni, NM
FMC WEST ALBUQUERQUE DIALYSIS CTR, Albuquerque, NM
SOUTHSIDE KIDNEY DISEASE CL, San Antonio, TX
BAY AREA DIALYSIS SVC AT ALICE, Alice, TX
DAVITA - LOWRY, Denver, CO
DAVITA - SHIPROCK DIALYSIS, Shiprock, NM

Patient Survival Data

There are 3761 dialysis facilities currently in the database. Approximately 2 percent of these have been determined to have "better than expected" patient survival rates and another 2 percent have been determined to have "worse than expected" survival rates. The dialysis facilities are listed in these linked files:

Better Than Expected Patient Survival (65 facilities). "Better than Expected" means that the patients treated in facilities that fell into this category generally lived longer than expected by at least 20% for the period between 1997-June 30, 2000.

Worse Than Expected Patient Survival (69 facilities). "Worse than Expected" means that that the facility's actual patient survival (for the period between 1997-June 30, 2000) is worse than what is expected by at least 20%.

3133 facilities fell into the "Expected Patient Survival" category.

494 of 3761 facilities had no survival data.

RenalWEB also analyzed the Dialysis Facility Compare data for the major dialysis provider chains.


[This message has been edited by Gary Peterson (edited 01-25-2002).]