BillP came up with another of his great ideas which was to have Comment Parties. What’s a Comment Party? It’s when a group of people get together and write their comments together to submit to CMS on the ESRD Proposed Payment System. With the aide of a facilitator or two and the use of a conference line and a GoogleDocs form, people get together on the phone (or Skype) and the web and write their comments together. Each topic has a row and each person has a column. After talking briefly about a particular issue, a person can write their own comment in their cell. If thry don’t feel comfortable they can skip it, or borrow an idea from another person. The iddea is to have a comment ready to submit within an hour’s time.
We had our first session tonight and it was a great success. Afterwards, each person can become a leader and host their own Comment Party with family, friends, other dialyzors they know, staff members, social workers, etc. We only have until 12/16 to get as many comments in as possible to influence44 CMS with their final rules on how dialysis will be paid for in the coming years. Folks, this affects us all. To get an idea of how it works, you can go to:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=tQcnmB35vZac-1aoLSaZS-Q
Let Bill or me know if you want to participate in a Comment Party. NxStageUsers will have another one next Tuesday night at 8pm EST. We can have as many as are necessary – several a day if necessary.