I was hoping to give all of you a happy update on our bill, it was looking like HB1131 was going to make it out of the appropriations committee at the end of March; however Fresenius has decided to join the act and is trying to kill the bill in the Appropriations committee. I’m trying to find out what they are saying and if my state rep wants people to write in - actually I kind of take this as a compliment.
It looks like Fresenius isn’t trying to stop the bill, they just have a problem with some of the language. I apologize, it looks like we assumed the worst. However I maybe really worried if it turns out they like the bill (just kidding - sort of).
I did wonder about that, Plugger, because Fresenius is a member of Kidney Care Partners (KCP) http://www.kidneycarepartners.org/, and the KCP bill includes a provision for technician certification.
This is good to know! The impression I get of Fresenius is you have some people that are more open to more progressive ideas - such as yourself - and others that aren’t so open - such as what we have around here. We have Fresenius clinics in this area and the last I heard the nephs weren’t very open to home dialysis.
I also think the Fresenius neph my daughter had when she was still living with my wife and I could have been less of a stick-in-the-mud and up-to-date more with my daughter’s transplant drugs. He did get her off this neoral drug which she seemed to be having a problem with, but it took getting a new neph to get her on this myfortic which she has taken well to; the new neph is also working to get her off prednisone, which I’ve read some worrisome things about. Anyway, you might be able to tell I’ve got mixed feelings about my daughter’s old neph. I’ve been impressed with this new one she has though.
Ok, this one is official - davita has come out against our bill. My rep met with a lobbyist and they are going to try to shoot it down; they claim there is no proof certification works - they also claim everything is just coming along peachy-keen.
I’ve seen this song and dance before and I doubt there is enough proof in the known universe to convince davita of the merits of certification. So we are contacting our allies and would preferably have more testimonials from people in-state - a half page would be fine. It can be sent to Rep. John Kefalas at: john.kefalas.house@state.co.us
Again, this is really strange, Plugger, because if I recall correctly, it was DaVita’s idea to put technician certification in the Kidney Care Quality & Education Act in the first place.
It was pointed out to the lobbyist that davita was supporting tech certification at the federal level, so why not the state? The response was a hodge-podge of state requirements made it harder for them to do business. I do hope the Kidney Care Quality & Education Act gets through and it isn’t like the bill for more frequent dialysis which has been stuck in committee year after year.
A friend and I had a stakeholders’ meeting at the state capitol with my state rep and about 7 industry people - mostly Fresenius and Davita. We ironed out some problems with the bill: one industry person had a good point about our training timelines being too short and my friend came up with the point that one test we were going to recognize was a more basic than the other two. My rep also spent some time breaking up spates that would break out between my friend and I on one side and the industry people on the other - let’s just say we were outnumbered, but I didn’t feel outgunned.
One result appears to be as follows: we had an organization that has been deeply involved in the bill, but appeared to be sitting on the fence; I got the word they will probably be coming down on our side. I don’t know if they will see this - but Thank You Colorado Hospital Association!
I talked to my rep and davita is still lobbying hard against the bill and trying to kill it in the appropriations committee - hearing April 11th. My rep - John Kefalas - told me more patient stories would be helpful - so if you haven’t written yet, now would be a good time.
As always stories from Colorado would be given preferential treatment, but I told him stories from elsewhere concerning davita and Fresenius could also show these companies have problems.
Again, stories can anonymous.
Contact info:
Colorado State Representative John Kefalas, District 52
email: john.kefalas.house@state.co.us
State Capitol phone: (303)866-4569
home phone: 970-221-1135
Mailing address:
Rep. John Kefalas, District 52
c/o Colorado State Capitol
200 East Colfax
Denver CO 80203
If you need some inspiration I fairly recently dug up this stat:
Since 1991:
children age 10–19, mortality due to infection – up 19%
(children age 10–19, cardiovascular mortality – up 62%)
USRDS 2006 ADR
We have more.
[QUOTE=plugger_;13155]I talked to my rep and davita is still lobbying hard against the bill and trying to kill it in the appropriations committee - hearing April 11th. My rep - John Kefalas - told me more patient stories would be helpful - so if you haven’t written yet, now would be a good time.
As always stories from Colorado would be given preferential treatment, but I told him stories from elsewhere concerning davita and Fresenius could also show these companies have problems.
Again, stories can anonymous.
Contact info:
Colorado State Representative John Kefalas, District 52
email: john.kefalas.house@state.co.us
State Capitol phone: (303)866-4569
home phone: 970-221-1135
Mailing address:
Rep. John Kefalas, District 52
c/o Colorado State Capitol
200 East Colfax
Denver CO 80203
If you need some inspiration I fairly recently dug up this stat:
Since 1991:
children age 10–19, mortality due to infection – up 19%
(children age 10–19, cardiovascular mortality – up 62%)
USRDS 2006 ADR
We have more.[/QUOTE]
I talked to my rep and he is going to put out a legislative alert here soon - within the next day or two; he will probably be asking people to write in to appropriations committee members. He mentioned Davita has been quiet lately, but one of their main lobbyists is coming to town; I don’t know if they are a bit more subdued or this is the calm before the storm.
HB07-1131: HEMODIALYSIS TECHNICIAN TRAINING STANDARDS & CERTIFICATION
4/6/07 - LEGISLATIVE ACTION ALERT
TAKE ACTION
· Contact House Appropriations Committee Members (see names below) before 4/11/07 and express your support for HB07-1131 (Sponsored by: Rep. John Kefalas, HD-52).
· HB-1131 is scheduled to be heard by this committee on Wednesday, 4/11 starting at 7:30 AM; it is critical that members hear from constituents - why this bill is important - improve kidney dialysis patients’ lives.
· Identify yourself and tell them if you are a constituent. Legislators pay more attention to constituents.
WHAT HB-1131 DOES
· Requires the state board of Health to adopt rules specifying the minimum training and competency standards for hemodialysis technicians and establishes a process to verify that technicians have been certified by a national credentialing program.
· Links this certification requirement to the licensing of dialysis treatment clinics; after the effective date - 1/1/09, a licensed dialysis clinic may not allow a person to practice unless that person is certified or in a training program working towards certification; provides 18 months for technician to be trained and certified.
BACKGROUND
Traditionally, hemodialysis treatments have been administered by RNs but increasingly underpaid and poorly trained technicians have taken on this task. The results are rising costs and worsening patient care. Infections and mortality due to improperly administered treatments are increasing and the hospitalization of these patients place an undue burden on the Medicare system.
TALKING POINTS
· Compared to other industrialized nations, the U.S. far outpaces others’ in its hemodialysis mortality rates. “Gross mortality as a simple percent has been quoted by many investigators as being 24 percent in the U.S., 12–14 percent in Europe, and 9 percent in Japan.” – USRDS 2006 ADR
· Since 1991: children age 10–19, mortality due to infection – up 19% children age 10–19, cardiovascular mortality – up 62% USRDS 2006 ADR
· Infection rates from secondary sources due to dialysis treatments are also on the rise. Since 1993: Pneumonia – up 12%, Cellulitis – up 20%, Bacteremia/septicemia – up 16% USRDS 2006 ADR
· “…25 to 50 percent of all hemodialysis patient admissions and hospital days are attributable to vascular access placement and related complications, contributing over $1 billion to total Medicare inpatient costs annually.” Federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services press release, March 17, 2005.
· Healthcare expenditures relating to dialysis treatments are skyrocketing. In 1991 expenditures totaled $8.0 billion. By 2001, costs had reached $22.8 billion almost triple earlier level of expenditures. USRDS 2003 ADR
· “Techs who do not have adequate training have caused the death of patients. In states that do not have tech licensing, the techs work under the RN license and that puts the RN at risk of losing their license for a tech mistake. Hence many RN’s do not want to work in a unit where the techs are putting the RN license on the line.” Founding RN, DialysisEthics
HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE MEMBERS (13)
Representative Bernie Buescher: 303-866-2583 Bernie.buescher.house@state.co.us
Representative Jack Pommer: 303-866-2780 Jack.pommer.house@state.co.us
Representative Dorothy Butcher: 303-866-2968 Dorothy.butcher.house@state.co.us
Representative Michael Garcia: 303-866-3911 Michael@michaelgarcia.info
Representative Joel Judd: 303-866-2925 repjoeljudd@qwest.net
Representative James Kerr: 303-866-2939 James.kerr.house@state.co.us
Representative Tom Massey: 303-866-2747 Tom.massey.house@state.co.us
Representative Anne McGihon: 303-866-2921 Anne.mcgihon.house@state.co.us
Representative Frank McNulty: 303-866-2936 Frank.mcnulty.house@state.co.us
Representative Jim Riesberg: 303-866-2953 Jim.riesberg.house@state.co.us
Representative Glen Vaad: 303-866-2943 Glen.vaad.house@state.co.us
Representative Paul Weissmann: 303-866-2920 reppaul@aol.com
Representative Al White: 303-866-2949 Al.white.house@state.co.us
House bill 1131 passed out of the state house Appropriations committee 9-4!
I just talked to my rep - Rep. John Kefalas - and he said it looks like this bill could go to the house floor within the next couple of days!
Colorado residents interested in supporting this bill can write or call their reps and can find contact info at:
For out-of-state people interested in writing or calling, I would suggest the following two contacts:
Rep. Andrew Romanoff
Speaker of the Colorado House
E-mail: romanoff@coloradohouse.org
Cap: 303-866-2346
Rep. Michael Garcia
Assistant Majority Leader of the Colorado House
E-mail: michael@michaelgarcia.info
Cap: 303-866-3911
It looks like we are on our way to the Colorado state Senate! The bill passed the house 42-23!
I understand our Colorado State Senate hearing could be as soon as next week – I’ll post the date as soon as I get the date and time. We could use more help with people writing in - it is critical that members hear from constituents - why this bill is important - improve kidney dialysis patients’ lives. Identify yourself and tell them if you are a constituent. Legislators pay more attention to constituents. I should add Davita is recruiting people to testify against the bill and we just might need all the help we can get. But we have a few more people who say they are willing to testify for us – and we have another organization that has come down on our side and is lobbying on our behalf.
Thank you, Colorado Consumer Health Initiative!
http://cohealthinitiative.org/news/?page_id=2
Members of the Colorado State Health and Human Services committee are:
Senator Bob Hagedorn, Chair
Cap: 303-866-4879
E-mail: SenBob@msn.com
Senator Betty Boyd, Vice-Chair
Cap: 303-866-4857
E-mail: betty.boyd.senate@state.co.us
Senator Shawn Mitchell
Cap: 303-866-4876
E-mail: shawn.mitchell.senate@state.co.us
Senator John Morse
Cap: 303-866-6364
E-mail: john.morse.senate@state.co.us
Senator Scott Renfroe
Cap: 303-866-4451
E-mail: scott.renfroe.senate@state.co.us
Senator Paula Sandoval
Cap: 303-866-4862
E-mail: paula.sandoval.senate@state.co.us
Senator David Schultheis
Cap: 303-866-4835
E-mail: dave@daveschultheis.com
Senator Brandon Shaffer
Cap: 303-866-5291
E-mail: brandon@brandonshaffer.com
Senator Steve Ward
Cap: 303-866-4846
E-mail: steve.ward.senate@state.co.us
I can’t remember if you have tried to approach DaVita Patient Citizens for their support. The DaVita Patient Citizens’ website says it has 20,000 members – some of whom must live in CO and receive treatment at clinics there. Some of the members of DPC are advocates and I suspect some of them must believe certification of technicians would be a good thing. The organization’s website says that although DaVita funded the start-up, it is separate from DaVita. However, having a similar name couldn’t hurt in an advocacy effort for technician certification.
It does make me nervous contacting someone with “DaVita” in their name, but I gave it a shot - we will see.
I don’t think I’d worry about contacting them. After all, the DaVita folks in CO know what’s going on so the company knows. It’s not like you’re letting a cat out of a bag…
I guess I’m definitely not letting the cat out of the bag - I’ve been blasting this all over the internet.
Anyway I confirmed the time of the hearing. The Colorado state Senate hearing will occur this Thursday April 26th at 1:30pm in room SCR 356 at the State Capitol in Denver. I talked to my State Senator this morning and he thought we had a good mix of people testifying for our side.
The bill passed the Colorado state Senate Health and Human Services committee by a 5-4 vote! (it was along party lines with the Democrats voting for it and the Republicans against it). It should get through the appropriations committee today and then on to the state Senate floor.