Advocacy and Public Policy
Shaping Public Policy for Nephrology Health Professionals
ASN promotes the highest quality care by serving as the professional organization informing health policy in kidney disease. Click on the magnifying glass to search by keyword or follow links at the left for more information.
ASN Asks ACIP to Priortize People on Dialysis and Dialysis Staff for COVID-19 Vaccination
ASN requests the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and experts at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to protect patients with kidney diseases. People with kidney failure receiving dialysis are some of the very most vulnerable to COVID-19. ASN, therefore, respectfully requests the Advisory Committee prioritize people on dialysis and staff who work in the dialysis environment for receiving vaccination for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and place them in Tier 1a.
- Posted Saturday, December 19, 2020 @ 8:59 AM
ASN Wins Improvements to Kidney Care Choices (KCC) Model
After significant outreach from the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) and ASN members with accepted applications to the Kidney Care Choices (KCC) Model – the voluntary model, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) adopted a serious of requested improvements on October 15, 2020.
- Posted Thursday, October 22, 2020 @ 4:26 PM
ASN Responds to the Great Barrington Declaration
The Great Barrington Declaration proposal offers to stop widespread efforts to avoid infection and instead allow the natural spread of infection leading to the subsequent development of immunity. The American Society of Nephrology''s (ASN''s) COVID-19 Response Team responds to this proposal stating that there is no realistic way to permit infection only to those who will not suffer complications.
- Posted Thursday, October 22, 2020 @ 12:29 PM
ASN Opposes Executive Order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) opposes the Executive Order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping issued on Tuesday, September 22, 2020. The society calls for immediate revisions to or recension of this misguided executive order.
- Posted Thursday, October 08, 2020 @ 4:11 PM
ASN Requests HHS to Finalize OPO Conditions for Coverage
ASN urges Health and Human Services leadership to formalize and enact objective and verifiable metrics to measure the performance of Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs), described in the OPO Conditions for Coverage Proposed Rule released on December 17, 2019.
- Posted Friday, October 02, 2020 @ 11:34 AM
ASN Statement on Foreign-Trained Physicians' Contributions to the U.S. Health System
ASN is concerned by the recently proposed rule from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to eliminate "duration of status" as an authorized period of stay for certain nonimmigrant visas (F, I, and J). Nearly 50% of US nephrologists are international medical graduates, and the society will comment on the proposed rule in the near future. ASN issued the following statement on foreign-trained physicians'' contributions to the U.S. health system and the society's efforts to remove barriers that prevent foreign-trained physicians from contributing to the nation's health care.
- Posted Wednesday, September 30, 2020 @ 3:22 PM
ASN RESPONDS TO THE HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE LETTER ON RACIAL HEALTH EQUITY
In response to the Ways and Means Committee, ASN highlighted the efforts of the NKF-ASN Task Force on Reassessing the Inclusion of Race in Diagnosing Kidney Disease and ASN's work to dismantle racism and disparities in kidney health.
- Posted Friday, September 25, 2020 @ 6:30 PM
ASN Submits Testimony to Congress Regarding COVID-19 Health Disparities
ASN is actively working on numerous fronts to promote equity within kidney health care and among kidney health professionals. However, the growing prevalence of kidney disorders, brought into sharp relief by the COVID-19 pandemic, has provided a fierce sense of urgency that more must be done to dismantle systemic racial and socioeconomic barriers to kidney health, and to address the root cause behind these disparities: racism.
- Posted Wednesday, June 10, 2020 @ 6:02 PM
Protecting Dialysis Patients by Temporarily Halting Facility Infection Surveys
During the COVID-19 PHE, our entire health care system is working to keep patients safe by avoiding contact – in addition to prevailing social distancing efforts – with other patients and health professionals to minimize the spread of the virus and flatten the curve. To further reduce exposure to the virus for patients with kidney failure and their care teams, ASN urges CMS to immediately halt all in-person infection control surveys/inspections for the duration of the PHE, including those referred to ask "desktop" surveys or any other names.
- Posted Tuesday, April 14, 2020 @ 11:40 AM
Medicare Advantage Plans in CY2021 Open for Patients with Kidney Failure
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) provided comments and critique of the proposed rule on Medicare Advantage (MA) for 2021 and 2022 on April 6, 2020. In 2021, by law, MA plans will be open to patients with kidney failure as opposed to those who were already enrolled in MA plans before advancing to kidney failure and remain enrolled after kidney failure.
- Posted Tuesday, April 07, 2020 @ 2:07 PM
ASN Raises Policy Actions to HHS Secretary Azar to Address Care of Kidney Patients During COVID-19 Pandemic
ASN has identified several actions necessary for the federal government to take to optimize the care and safety of kidney patients and health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Click READ MORE to view ASN's full letter to Secretary Azar.
- Posted Thursday, March 19, 2020 @ 5:45 PM
ASN Supports Transparent, Verifiable Metrics for Oprgan Procurement Organizations
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) provided comments of support and recommendations for improvement on the proposed rule for Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) Conditions for Coverage: Revisions to the Outcome Measure Requirements for Organ Procurement Organization proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The proposed rule intends to require transparent, verifiable, and uniform metrics by which CMS can evaluate OPO performance.
- Posted Monday, February 24, 2020 @ 11:20 AM
ASN Advocates for Greater Living Donor Support
ASN supported the proposed rule on Removing Financial Disincentives to Living Organ Donation issued by Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and recommended further changes in its comment letter to the agency February 18, 2020.
- Posted Thursday, February 20, 2020 @ 2:42 PM
