dialysis

Oak Street, Interwell Combine Primary Care & Dialysis with New Joint Venture

Oak Street Health teamed up with kidney care management company Interwell Health to create a joint venture called OakWell, which seeks to provide primary care to end-stage kidney disease patients directly in existing dialysis centers. End stage kidney disease patients spend upwards of 12 hours per week in dialysis centers — OakWell is meant to eliminate the barrier of attending separate, additional medical appointments.

By Katie Adams

Growing Nephrology Nursing Workforce Crisis Demands Policy Attention

It is critical for policymakers to work with nephology RNs to increase federal resources that will enable us to address burnout, decrease turnover rates, and build and support a stronger healthcare workforce nationwide.

By Angie Kurosaka

Consumer / Employer

Health Benefit Consultants, Share Your Expert Insights in Our Survey

By MedCity News

MedCity Influencers

Lessons learned from prison and dialysis while trying to prevent the pain, loss and cost of kidney diseases

These two health care settings provided invaluable lessons: get ahead of the curve through collaboration with other doctors, better monitoring, early referrals, and education.

By Dr. Laura Maursetter

MedCity Influencers

The shift from community dialysis to ‘in-home’ treatments at skilled nursing facilities

The critical, pragmatic steps involved in developing patient-centric and equitable care for the nursing home patients came only very recently when medically advanced home hemodialysis therapies were repurposed and modified for use in the elderly frail nursing home dialysis patient populations

By Allen Kaufman

BioPharma, Pharma

CSL shakes off pandemic woes, diversifies with $11.7B Vifor Pharma acquisition

CSL Limited makes many of its therapies from donated plasma, which posed a challenge as pandemic lockdowns led to a steep drop in plasma collections. In acquiring Vifor Pharma, CSL not only diversifies, it also expands its presence in the fast-growing nephrology market.

By Frank Vinluan

MedCity Influencers, Devices & Diagnostics

Saving lives, money & time: Moving away from center-based dialysis care

Virtually all routine dialysis should be available within skilled nursing and long term care facilities. The technology for this type of care exists and training LTC staff on easy to operate, portable dialysis devices should be the norm.

By Paul Komenda

A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma

A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.

By PurpleLab

Policy, Health Services

New CMS incentives look to close equity gap in home dialysis, kidney transplants

The agency issued a final rule on Friday that would update payment rates for dialysis. It includes a payment model that would incentivize healthcare providers to decrease disparities for in-home dialysis rates and transplant rates among low-income patients.

By Elise Reuter

Legal, Hospitals, Payers

CMS grants quality reporting exceptions for facilities recovering from Hurricane Ida

The agency has granted certain Medicare quality reporting exceptions to healthcare facilities in areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, New York and New Jersey that were battered by Hurricane Ida. By providing the exceptions, CMS aims to enable facilities to direct their resources toward recovery.

By Anuja Vaidya

Devices & Diagnostics, Health Tech

Impedimed device gets breakthrough designation for kidney failure

The company’s bioimpedance spectroscopy device would be used to measure how much fluid should be removed from a patient during dialysis.

By Elise Reuter

Health Services, Startups, Payers, Health Tech

Insurers back kidney care startup Cricket in $83.5M round

Cigna Ventures and Blue Shield of California contributed to a funding round for Cricket Health, a startup that provides services to help patients identify chronic kidney disease and get support in treatment. The investment was led by Valtruis, a firm that invests in value-based care companies.

By Elise Reuter

With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?

Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.

Devices & Diagnostics, Health Tech

Portable dialysis company Outset Medical files for IPO

Outset Medical, a San Jose-based company making portable dialysis machines, filed the initial paperwork for an IPO. The company has not yet set a price range for its stock, but said it plans to raise roughly $100 million.

By Elise Reuter

Policy, Payers

New CMS rule would add incentives for at-home dialysis

A proposed rule by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would expand payments for new dialysis machines when used at-home.

By Elise Reuter

Health Services, Payers, Legal

Judge blocks California dialysis law

A federal judge blocked a bill that would have prevented dialysis clinics from steering patients to commercial insurance plans.

By Elise Reuter

Policy, Devices & Diagnostics

In California, dialysis industry spends big to protect profits

The dialysis industry spent about $2.5 million in California on lobbying and campaign contributions in the first half of this year in its ongoing battle to thwart regulation

By Harriet Blair Rowan

Devices & Diagnostics, Health Tech, Health Services