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.
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
Medicare Advantage Plans in CY2021 to Open for Patients with Kidney Failure Open for
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 @ 2:05 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
ASN Releases Kidney Care First (KCF) Model Calculator to Estimate Reimbursements
The American Society of Nephrology has developed and released the Kidney Care First (KCF) Model Calculator for nephrologists and nephrology practices to help them evaluate how they might perform in the voluntary payment program. The calculator is a guide only and does not calculate every variable that a practice might face; however, it is designed to examine the difference in nephrology practice reimbursement in the status quo versus the KCF Option in the Kidney Care Choices (KCC) Model. This device is intended for practices already considering the KCF Option.
- Posted Monday, January 13, 2020 @ 8:06 PM
ASN and NKF announce Public Awareness Initiative for Advancing American Kidney Health Initiative
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) and the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) announced a new partnership with the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to work on the new Public Awareness Initiative outlined in the Executive Order on Advancing American Kidney Health. The goals are to enhance awareness of kidney disease, educate clinical professionals and spur innovation by entities serving the kidney disease community. The collaboration will provide education about the risks of kidney disease and promote the early detection, treatment and management of kidney disease to improve patient outcomes. This initiative will also share information to enhance awareness of the causes and consequences of kidney disease.
- Posted Thursday, November 14, 2019 @ 11:18 AM
ASN Calls for Transparent, Objective Organ Procurement Metrics
ASN urges the administration to expeditiously implement objective, transparent metrics to evaluate and improve organ procurement organization efforts, in support of the Advancing American Kidney Health initiative.
- Posted Monday, October 07, 2019 @ 11:52 AM
ASN's Recommendations for the Improvement of the ESRD Treament Choices (ETC) Model
ASN has evaluated the proposed ETC Model and identified "Essential Elements for Ensuring Success." The society outlines these recommendations in a comment letter to the Innovation Center of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Also, ASN joins the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and the Renal Physicians Association (RPA) in a second comment letter outlining the five overarching issues the three organizations agree need to be addressed in the proposed rule.
- Posted Tuesday, September 17, 2019 @ 11:54 AM
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
