2/1 CMS Request for ESRD Treatment Feedback

CMS is soliciting feedback from ESRD stakeholders on anything and everything they would like to see improved about ESRD treatment. Submit your comments by February 1, 2022 at https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/CMS-2021-0184-0001, choosing “End Stage Renal Disease Facilities – HPA20” as your response to the “What is your comment about?” question.

Find the CMS Request for Information at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/12/03/2021-26146/request-for-information-health-and-safety-requirements-for-transplant-programs-organ-procurement. The full title of the Request includes not just transplant programs and OPOs, but “and End-Stage Renal Disease Facilities.” This Request page includes specific questions about transplant programs and their Conditions of Participation (“COPS”), patient rights, organ donations, tissue transplants, general kidney health, home dialysis, alternative types and settings for dialysis, alternative models of care, processes and policies for organs and donors, and nephrology joint ventures, including whether a nephrologist’s partial ownership of a dialysis facility should be disclosed to patients, and whether that ownership has “an impact on resource use, patient care, and/or choice of modality.”

New Reports: USRDS, OPTN, SRTR, UNOS

The US Renal Data System (USRDS) 2019 Annual Data Report: Epidemiology of Kidney Disease in the United States has been released on paper.  The online version was released in November 2019.  Find the Report at https://www.ajkd.org/issue/S0272-6386(19)X0003-7, and the USRDS ADR page at https://www.usrds.org/adr.aspx.

The Annual Data Report of the OPTN and SRTR (the US Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network and the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients) is now available, documenting data pertaining to the period 2007-2018.  Find it at https://srtr.transplant.hrsa.gov/annual_reports/2018_ADR_Preview.aspx.  Find the OPTN home page at https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/ and SRTR at https://www.srtr.org/.

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) has published new vision and mission statements.  Find them at https://unos.org/news/introducing-unos-new-mission-and-vision/.