Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched the 5-Star Rating System as a part of the Dialysis Facility Compare (DFC) website at www.medicare.gov/dialysisfacilitycompare. On this site, clinics are rated on performance data, hospitalizations, mortality, transfusion rate, kt/v, hypercalcemia, fistula and catheter rate. The site is available publicly for anyone to view. CMS previously said it plans to update the DFC’s star rating on an annual basis beginning in October 2015.
Mortality and hospitalization rates account for 22% of how CMS scores a facility, both of which can be improved by infusion of intravenous Amino Acid during dialysis therapy when a patient’s albumin has dropped beyond a certain point. It is important to act quickly when a patient’s albumin drops, not waiting until the patient is in a severe malnourishment status as there is a 10-fold increase in the risk of hospitalization and mortality at that point.
Credible research over the years have shown improvements in mortality and hospitalization rates as albumin improves. IDPN and IPN can help improve albumin when oral supplements fail to provide the necessary protein intake for your patients. IDPN and IPN has also shown to reduce inflammation, improve appetite, decrease ESA use and improve overall body strength. This provides an improved quality of life for the patient with the opportunity to reduce treatment costs for the dialysis center.
For more information on the DFC’s Star Rating Methodology, visit: www.cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Fact-sheets/2015-Fact-sheetsitems/2015-01-22.html.
