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 Reponses to OPTN Summer Comment Period
ASN provides responses to five key policies raised as part of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) Summer Comment Period.
- Posted Wednesday, September 20, 2023 @ 1:55 PM
ASN Comments on CMS-1784 CY2024 Physician Fee Schedule
In this letter ASN comments on nine proposed policy changes to CMS-1784 CY2024 Physician Fee Schedule.
- Posted Sunday, September 10, 2023 @ 11:39 AM
ASN Responds to CMS-1782-P CY2024 ESRD PPS QIP Proposed Rule
In this letter, ASN comments on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS)''s CY2024 End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System (PPS), Quality Incentive Program (QIP), and End-Stage Renal Disease (ETC) Model proposed rule.
- Posted Tuesday, August 29, 2023 @ 2:57 PM
ASN and NKF Urge Congressional Leaders to Confirm President Biden's Nominee for NIH Director
In a letter to Congressional leaders, ASN and NKF expressed strong support for Dr. Monica Bertagnolli as the next Director of the National Institutes of Health. ASN and NKF note her leadership at the helm of the world's leading biomedical innovation ecosystem is necessary to provide hope for and signal to the 37 million Americans living with kidney diseases, the nearly 800,000 thousand Americans with kidney failure, and their families and care partners that new scientific discoveries and therapies are on the horizon.
- Posted Tuesday, August 15, 2023 @ 4:56 PM
ASN responds to Yale CORE request for comment on the development of an eCQM to address social needs
In this letter, ASN responds to The Yale Center For Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE) requests for feedback on the development of an eCQM designed to measure screening of patients for social needs within four domains: food insecurity, housing insecurity, utlility insecurity, and transportation. ASN believes the collection of social needs data within an eCQM is a positive step in identifying impacted individuals, collecting data, and identifying rates of follow-up efforts along with existing gaps.
- Posted Thursday, July 06, 2023 @ 11:03 AM
ASN signs on to letter urging the Federal Aviation Administration to promote efficient transportation of donated organs
ASN and more than 30 organizations urge Congress to consider provisions in the Federal Aviation Administrative reauthorization to develop regulations to enable the transportation of a donated organ in the passenger cabin instead of in a cargo hold of an airplane.
- Posted Wednesday, June 14, 2023 @ 12:23 PM
ASN comments on CMS-1797: Medicare Program; FY24 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update
In the letter, ASN responds to a request for information (RFI) from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) on dialysis in the current hospice care model. ASN''s comment letter focuses on three areas- concurrent hospice and dialysis, palliative approaches to dialysis, and upstream models of palliative care for kidney failure.
- Posted Wednesday, May 31, 2023 @ 1:58 PM
ASN and organizations representing kidney patients, caregivers, and health professionals commend the introduction of the Securing the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Act (S. 1668)
ASN commends Senator Wyden, Senator Grassley, Senator Cardin, Senator Young, Senator Cassidy, Senator Warren, Senator Moran, and Senator Booker for their leadership to ensure that patients are optimally served, strengthening accountability, equity, and performance in the organ donation and transplantation system.
- Posted Thursday, May 25, 2023 @ 2:48 PM
ASN and more than 30 organizations urge Congress to protect patient's access to laboratory testing by enacting H.R. 2377 / S. 1000 Saving Access to Laboratory Services Act
ASN and organizations representing health care providers, clinical and pathology laboratories, laboratory professionals, and diagnostic manufacturers urge Congress to pass the Saving Access to Laboratory Services Act (H.R. 2377 / S. 1000) to bolster clinical diagnostic testing for patients and update the Medicare payment system.
- Posted Tuesday, May 23, 2023 @ 11:58 AM
ASN sends letter to the white house on the end of the public health emergency
In the letter to the Biden-Harris Administration, ASN stresses that despite the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency on May 11, COVID-19 remains a threat to the nearly 37 million Americans with kidney disease. ASN also presents the administration with four asks aimed at ensuring the health and safety of Americans who remain high-risk.
- Posted Thursday, May 11, 2023 @ 3:06 PM
ASN and 30 organizations commend the introduction of the Securing the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Act (H.R. 2544) in a congressional sign-on letter
In the letter, ASN and thirty partner organizations commend Congressman Larry Bucshon, M.D. and Congresswoman Robin Kelly for introducing bipartisan legislation that aims to ensure that the U.S. organ transplant network is as effective and efficient as it possibly can be in meeting the transplant care needs of Americans affected by kidney failure.
- Posted Tuesday, May 09, 2023 @ 11:40 AM
ASN and 25 organizations commended HHS and HRSA regarding the recent announcement of the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network (OPTN) Modernization Initiative to improve the U.S. transplant system
In a letter to HHS Secretary Becerra, ASN and 25 organizations representing kidney patients, caregivers, and health professionals thank the department for their commitment to implement changes to the OPTN focusing on technology, data transparency, governance, operations, and quality improvement and innovation.
- Posted Wednesday, April 19, 2023 @ 3:32 PM
ASN Responds to the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Proposed Rule to Ban Non-Compete Clauses
In the letter, ASN focuses on two primary issues related to the use of non-compete clauses in the health care- the unique role of doctors/medical professionals for patients and the community and the unsolved questions on the status of non-competes for non-profits.
- Posted Tuesday, April 18, 2023 @ 3:44 PM
ASN Input on OPTN Ethical Evaluation of Multiple Listing White Paper
ASN supported the OPTN and the Ethics Committee''s emphasis on "revising policies that entrench [health disparities]" but respectfully urged OPTN and the committee to focus their efforts to achieve this goal by reforming other aspects of the system to reduce inequities, particularly inequities in accessing multiple listing.
- Posted Tuesday, March 28, 2023 @ 1:58 PM
ASN Recommendations on OPTN Organ Offer Filter Opt-Out Proposal
ASN enumerated numerous potentially positive outcomes deriving from this proposal and detailed recommendations to avoid potential unintended consequences, such as ensuring transparency regarding programs'' organ offer filters in patient-friendly formats and monitoring for inadvertent separation of centers into conservative and aggressive centers, to prevent divides in access from deepening.
- Posted Tuesday, March 28, 2023 @ 1:38 PM
ASN and more than 30 organizations representing kidney patients, caregivers, and health professionals urge Congressional leadership to increase FY24 funding for the NIH, NIDDK, and establish a Special Statutory Funding Program for Kidney Research
In the letter, ASN and the kidney community are requesting the committees include an increase of $3.4 billion for NIH, no less than $168 million for NIDDK, and $150 million per year over 10 years for a Special Statutory Funding Program for Kidney Research to ensure continued support for people living with kidney diseases, investment in kidney research, and innovation to accelerate the development an artificial kidney.
- Posted Friday, March 24, 2023 @ 4:27 PM
ASN and NKF urge the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network to remove race from the Kidney Donor Risk Index
ASN and NKF firmly believe that race has no place in clinical algorithms used to evaluate organ suitability and request that OPTN share a plan for developing and a deadline for implementing a race-neutral KDRI equation.
- Posted Monday, March 20, 2023 @ 1:30 PM
ASN Calls on OPTN to Clarify Plans for Living Kidney Donor Prioritization
ASN urges OPTN to immediately clarify how OPTN envisions prioritizing living donors. ASN implores OPTN to continue to honor commitments to ensure rapid access to a kidney to prior living kidney donors and extend that commitment to future living kidney donors, should the donors ever need a kidney transplant themselves.
- Posted Thursday, March 16, 2023 @ 2:32 PM
NKF & ASN comments on AHRQ''s report-
In the letter, ASN and NKF reiterate their commitment to the final report released by the NKF-ANS joint Task Force on Reassessing the Inclusion of Race in Diagnosing Kidney Diseases that recommended a race-free approach to the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) equation as well as the use of cystatin-C to confirm estimate kidney function. ASN and NKF applaud AHRQ for its synthesis of key literature on the impact of healthcare algorithms on racial and ethnic disparities in health and healthcare. ASN and NKF also expressed agreement with AHRQ''s list of mitigation strategies and pledge to collaborate with the greater medical community to promote awareness of the potential risk associated with the use of race in algorithms. Finally, ASN and NKF stressed that more urgent work remains to remove the inappropriate use of race throughout kidney medicine, particularly regarding the Kidney Donor Risk Index/Kidney Donor Profile Index and Cystatin C Implementation.
- Posted Tuesday, March 14, 2023 @ 4:10 PM
ASN Calls on CMS to Collect Pre-Waitlisting Data and Improve the 2728 Form
In the letter, ASN urges CMS to revisit the classification system of the ICD-10 structure, clarify laboratory testing prior to dialysis, and calls for discussion with the kidney community about how to capture data relating to issues such as housing insecurity, transportation barriers, and indicators of social economic status. ASN also urges CMS to engage in a broader evaluation of all the possible tools it has at its disposal to collect data on pre-transplant referral and evaluation, data on demographics and social determinants of health, and data at the dates of referral for transplant and dates of transplant evaluation.
- Posted Tuesday, March 14, 2023 @ 10:56 AM
ASN and more than 40 organizations urge Congress to support people living with chronic diseases by increasing funding for the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
The NIAMS Coalition, with support from ASN, is urging appropriators to include $732 million in the fiscal year 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bills highlighting the need for continued research initiatives and opportunities.
- Posted Monday, March 13, 2023 @ 1:26 PM
The Congressional Kidney Caucus sends a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requesting that the Biden administration support KidneyX
In the bipartisan letter, members of Congress including, Rep. Larry Bucshon, Sen. Ben Cardin, Rep. Suzan DelBene, and Sen. Todd Young request that OMB include $25M in the president's budget for KidneyX to create a world without kidney disease.
- Posted Wednesday, February 01, 2023 @ 11:50 AM
ASN sends letter to Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) reaffirming its position that the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and the OPTN contractor(s) have separate governance boards
In the letter, ASN urges HRSA to implement separate boards for the OPTN and any OPTN contractor(s), ensuring an optimally-functioning OPTN for the nearly 100,000 patients on the kidney transplant waitlist.
- Posted Monday, January 30, 2023 @ 10:43 AM
ASN Responds to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) Request for Comments on Hospitals Requesting Waivers for Organ Procurement Service Areas
ASN reiterated its call to CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to increase transparency regarding organ procurement organization's (OPO) process data as well as take every available step to work to increase patient access to kidney transplantation and ensure equity.
- Posted Friday, January 13, 2023 @ 2:14 PM
ASN & NKF send letter to FDA Commissioner Califf offering to help cultivate the growing interest in therapeutic development to benefit people with kidney diseases
In the letter, ASN and NKF discuss the need for therapeutic development and innovation to target kidney diseases and offer several approaches to ensure patients with kidney diseases receive valuable access to care.
- Posted Tuesday, November 08, 2022 @ 5:10 PM