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.

Advancing American Kidney Health Initiative

The White House and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary on July 10, 2019, unveiled the Advancing American Kidney Health initiative. President Trump signed an Executive Order launching the initiative. The initiative seeks to: 1) Prevent kidney failure through better diagnosis, treatment, and preventative care. 2) Increase affordable alternative treatment options, educate patients on treatment alternatives, and encourage the development of artificial kidneys. 3) Increase access to kidney transplants by modernizing the transplant system and updating counterproductive regulations."

Posted: Wednesday, July 17, 2019 @ 10:53 AM

ASN Commends Senator Young for Introducing the Organ Procurement Optimization Act

On Tuesday, July 9, Senator Young (R-IN) introduced the Organ Procurement Optimization Act, legislation that aims to deliver more life-saving organs to patients by establishing clear, accountable metrics for organ procurement organizations (OPOs). There are currently nearly 100,000 Americans on the kidney transplant waitlist, and every day 13 Americans die waiting for a kidney transplant. Addressing this organ shortage is of paramount importance to ASN, a goal that requires objective data and clear accountability for organ procurement organizations (OPOs), which hold a critical position on the front line of organ donation. Senator Young's legislation would require standardized, objective, and verifiable metrics be established by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to assess the performance of OPOs, which are currently evaluated using metrics based on self-reported data. In a letter to Senator Young, ASN president Mark Rosenberg commended the Senator for introducing the legislation, noting that objective and verifiable metrics are necessary for the accurate evaluation of OPOs and that utilization of such metrics could lead to an improvement in the performance of OPOs and a significant increase the availability of kidneys for transplantation.

Posted: Tuesday, July 09, 2019 @ 6:53 PM

Advocating for Patient Access to EHRs

ASN has shared with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) its support for patient access to electronic health records (EHR) and interoperability between EHR systems with certain conditions to relieve clinician burden. Read the cautions ASN has raised with HHS regarding the proposed rules.

Posted: Tuesday, June 04, 2019 @ 12:08 PM

Improving Organ Procurement Metrics

ASN asks Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to adopt new objective data metrics for organ procurement organizations (OPOs), which hold a critical position on the front line of organ donation.

Posted: Wednesday, May 29, 2019 @ 4:02 PM

ASN Thanks Sponsors of Living Donor Protection Act

The Living Donor Protection Act of 2019, a longstanding priority of the ASN Policy and Advocacy Committee and the larger kidney and transplant community, has been reintroduced in the House of Representatives and Senate by Representatives Jaime Herrera-Beulter (R-WA) and Jerry Nadler (D-NY), and Senators Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) and Tom Cotton (R-AR). On February 15th, 2019, American Society of Nephrology (ASN) President Dr. Mark Rosenberg sent a letter to the lead sponsors of the legislation to commend their efforts to provide hope to the more than 700,000 Americans with kidney failure, including the nearly 100,000 people on the waitlist to receive a kidney...

Posted: Friday, February 15, 2019 @ 3:54 PM

ASN Fighting for the Six Protected Classes of Drugs

ASN is fighting proposed changes to the Medicare Part D program that would remove protections for the full range of six classes of critically important drugs - antidepressants, immunosuppressants, antipsychotics, antiretrovirals, anticonvulsants and antineoplastics. The society believes the proposed changes to Medicare Part D protected classes will make it more difficult for some transplant recipients to access the vital range of drugs used to prevent organ rejection.

Posted: Friday, January 25, 2019 @ 12:22 PM

Removing Unintended Consequences in Transplant Regulations

Responding to a Medicare proposed rule designed to relieve regulatory burden in healthcare, the ASN Quality Committee addresses the provisions relating to the process governing re-application for approval of transplant centers.

Posted: Tuesday, November 20, 2018 @ 3:26 PM

23 Insurers and Providers Raise Concerns Surrounding the Dialysis PATIENTS Demonstration Act

A coalition of 23 organizations representing major insurers and providers of kidney and transplant care have issued a joint response to the reintroduction of the Dialysis PATIENTS Demonstration Act of 2017. The organizations raise concerns about the possibility of unintended consequences and risks associated with foundational aspects of the PATIENTS Act, including a possible reduction of patient choice, and as such, are unable to support the PATIENTS Act at this time.

Posted: Wednesday, October 31, 2018 @ 5:05 PM

Community Responds to Reintroduction of Dialysis PATIENTS Demonstration Act

The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), American Association of Transplantation (AST), American Association of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS), and the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) have issued a joint response to the reintroduction of the Dialysis PATIENTS Demonstration Act of 2017. The organizations remain concerned about the possibility of unintended consequences and risks associated with foundational aspects of the PATIENTS Act, and as such, are unable to support the PATIENTS Act at this time.

Posted: Monday, October 22, 2018 @ 11:08 AM

ASN and 35 Kidney Care Organizations Write HHS Secretary Azar in Support of KidneyX

The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) and 35 kidney care organizations wrote to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar, JD, to express their strong support and gratitude for the formation of KidneyX, a public-private partnership to accelerate innovation in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of kidney diseases.

Posted: Wednesday, October 17, 2018 @ 1:43 PM

ASN Defending E/M Reimbursement in 2018 Physician Fee Schedule

ASN is opposing a new Medicare proposal to provide a single payment for E/M codes 2 - 5 in its comments on the 2018 proposed rule. The society also addresses proposed changes to documentation and the future of MIPS and AAPMs.

Posted: Thursday, September 13, 2018 @ 3:52 PM

ASN Comments on Proposed ESRD Bundle and QIP Rule

ASN provided input to Medicare on its proposed changes to the ESRD bundle and the Quality Incentive Program, including addressing how the agency adds innovative new products to the bundle, encouraging parsimony in the QIP, and requesting clarification on questions related to AKI care in outpatient ESRD units.

Posted: Friday, September 07, 2018 @ 9:46 AM

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