Looking for some help with home dialysis my daughter is getting ready to go on dialysis looking for some expert advice
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You’ve come to the right spot. Home Dialysis Central has lots of information on different types of home dialysis. Click on the logo to go to the homepage and read the articles under the tabs at the top of the page.
Medical Education Institute that developed and administers this site created a tool to help people with kidney disease choose a treatment that fits with their lifestyle and what’s important to them. Check it out:
https://mydialysischoice.org/.
There’s information on Home Dialysis Central about paying for treatment:
Medicare has a whole booklet that explains Medicare coverage for dialysis and transplant that can be found here:
Finally, if your daughter would like to talk with one of us, she can call 1-800-468-7777 or 1-608-833-8033.
There are two ways to go, peritoneal or home hemodialysis. I have been on PD (car accident damaged it) went to in center for 5 years 3 x week, moved closer to family and started home hemo, you should talk to a home hemo nurse to see if it’s right for you. I dialyize 5x a week, I have more energy and no longer take BP meds and lost 60 pounds and counting. You will need a good water system(tap water) the clinic will test yours to see if yours can be used. How old is your daughter? You will need space to store supplies, how is she with needles? I know this is lot of info but please ask as many questions as you can before making a decision on which one, each method has it’s own restrictions. Good luck.
Thank you tyrichards for sharing. Another option to consider is kidney transplant. Your daughter can be evaluated and if determined to be a good candidate, she could get a kidney from a living or deceased donor. There is good information about kidney transplant from before, during and after the transplant on the Transplant Living website at https://transplantliving.org/.
Hello Beth,
Is there anyway you can lead me into the right direction of offering staff assisted home hemo??? No one offers this in my state and there is a great need
This may not be offered in your state because Medicare doesn’t cover it. For this reason most patients use family members or friends if they can’t do dialysis alone. Fairly recently the FDA approved the NxStage machine for solo dialysis while the patient is awake so patients can be screened for eligibility for solo dialysis.
Some clinics offer staff-assisted dialysis for patients who have insurance that will cover it. This service may be covered by job-based insurance, VA, or long-term care plans. One patient’s family member told me that Medicaid covered it in her state.
All home patients must have a dialysis clinic that trains them to do dialysis, provides their home dialysis equipment and supplies, monitors their home treatments and their adaptation to dialysis, and bills Medicare and/or insurance. Medicare won’t pay anyone but a dialysis clinic for home dialysis patients’ treatments.