Hi everyone and Happy St. Patrick’s Day
Today fellow dialyzor Rich Berkowitz and I will be visiting a couple of dialysis facilities to meet some patients in the Chicago area and talk to them about their options and hopefully home dialysis.
Wish us luck, we’re going to facilities that Rich was a dialyzor and we hope we can get passed the front desk!
Dori or Beth are you familar with or know of any reason they can prevent us from meeting with patients? We’re just going to introduce ourselves as fellow dialyzors and tell them we’re patient advocates and just want to talk to them to see how their treatments are going, and make sure they’re aware of help and options for dialysis patients.
We’re going to reference this site to those that are looking for home therapies.
Afterwards Rich and I are going to see if we can turn as green as the river! 
Harvey
Hi Harvey,
Depends on the clinic’s policy about visitors–specifically visitors on the treatment floor. They may permit this all the time, may permit it after everyone has been hooked up, or may not permit folks on the treatment floor at ALL (sometimes due to space issues).
You might have better luck talking to folks in the waiting room, in that case, or even in the parking lot. Not sure how the weather is in Chicago today, but it’s a gorgeous day in here in Madison!
Hi Folks
Hi Dori & Harvey
So you know for a fact or law that if I went to a center I could try and talk to them at least in parking area?
I have a gut feeling that some if not most davita units would not let an outsiders inside the dialysis area?
[QUOTE=Dori Schatell;17416]Hi Harvey,
Depends on the clinic’s policy about visitors–specifically visitors on the treatment floor. They may permit this all the time, may permit it after everyone has been hooked up, or may not permit folks on the treatment floor at ALL (sometimes due to space issues).
You might have better luck talking to folks in the waiting room, in that case, or even in the parking lot. Not sure how the weather is in Chicago today, but it’s a gorgeous day in here in Madison![/QUOTE]
Thanks
Bob O’Brien
Generally the city owns the sidewalk across the front of the building. Who owns the parking lot probably depends on whether the clinic rents or purchased the building (and/or lot). It’s an individual thing. I think if you go in in a cooperative way, you’ll get further than you would by insisting that you have a “right” to talk to people. It IS their property, after all.
We brought 1½ dozen bagels and gave it to the social worker. She went to talk to the clinic manager and came back saying HIPAA regulations wouldn’t allow for us to go in; that patients’ privacy wouldn’t be protect is we walked in. And she kept the bagels, even when I asked for her to return them.
However, we did talk to a dialyzor in the lobby after his treatment and he seemed interested. We will follow up with him and hopefully get a convert to home therapy.
Hi Folks
Rich and Harvey
The unit didn’t have a problem with you talking in the waiting room>? Was it a davita unit and were either of you former pts.? I think I could go to my former unit but would not be let in waiting room. And the parklot isn’t owned by them, but davita would call them lot owners and have them come and chase me
This is where a legal panel would would help us know what we could do and not. As to HIPPA is a or was joke in my center. That was the last thing anybodyfrom person to dr care about
As to HIPPA were you there to talk about a person health issues or just about the up side to home dialysis? And ifa person wanted to talk to you isn’t that the right of the person on dialysis? I think we talked on HIPPA before where centers are not set up for people to a one on one with there DR unless the person made a time at the dr office which if your a person in center you would not get time since you see a dr in center
Thanks
Bob O’Brien
[QUOTE=Rich Berkowitz;17423]We brought 1½ dozen bagels and gave it to the social worker. She went to talk to the clinic manager and came back saying HIPAA regulations wouldn’t allow for us to go in; that patients’ privacy wouldn’t be protect is we walked in. And she kept the bagels, even when I asked for her to return them.
However, we did talk to a dialyzor in the lobby after his treatment and he seemed interested. We will follow up with him and hopefully get a convert to home therapy.[/QUOTE
Hi all,
I’m glad to see Rich owning up to seeing me in Chicago yesterday!
It was a beautiful day in the 70’s and while Chicago, like most cities, did all their celebrating on Saturday - thankfully there were enough Irish left to celebrate yesterday!
Like Rich said we had success in talking with a young man that’s been in-center for about 3 years. Not sure if you could actually say they ‘let us’ talk to him in their lobby or we just did but we did long enough to get his info and give him some material and this website for more information. We got the information out there and our hope is he’ll act on it - he really is too young to not dialyze at home!
I’d love to have the input of someone who may be familar with the ESRD network to act as a patient advocate and insure the patients in-center have been informed and are aware of the help and support for them as patients. Now I realize that we can’t go into centers with the idea of converting patients to NxStage and that I can understand but like yesterday if I was a betting man - and I am - I’d bet this young man had never been made totally aware of all his options.
Never the less getting to talk to him, and made a contact and hopefully that will make a difference in his life.
One wonders how that clinic gets around the potential HIPAA violation when the CMS surveyor wants to interview patients…
Well I honestly don’t think it’s a HIPAA violation if the patient chooses to talk to someone the center isn’t releasing any information and if the patient doesn’t want to talk to anyone that’s certainly their right.
Rich suggested that we have some business cards lamenated in plastic that said something like COC Police…but impersonating a federal official might carry more jail time than I’m willing to put on the table! I think he was just kidding, right Rich??? If you’ve met Rich, you just never know…I thought I was going to have to tackle him when he noticed the door wasn’t locked! He also asked for the bagels back when they didn’t let us on the floor.
I’m checking with my local network to find out if I can visit local dialysis centers to visit with patients, I’ll let you know what they say.
