Would you say that the machine solutions are the most expensive cost of the tx? And if so, what would the costs for solutions be for SDD vs SND?
I don’t have a clue. I don’t pay a cent for anything, except the extra electricity my machine uses. Not bad really. My own completely functional, completely flexible dialysis centre right in my own home, at no cost whatsoever.
Pierre
The charge to the patient is not separated out for machine and supplies. There is a “bundle of services” that is included in the “composite rate” in the U.S. and everything except drugs the patient may get during dialysis is included in that rate if the patient is a Method I patient. If the patient is a Method II patient, the supply company may bill out things separately. If the patient has Medicare primary, Medicare dictates what the clinic or the supply company can charge. You can read Medicare FAQs for patients at www.homedialysis.org/v1/medicare/faqs-pat.shtml.
If the patient has other insurance, charges by the clinic and the supply company are only limited by whatever contract (if any) the insurance company has with the clinic and supply company. Patients who sign up for Medicare as a secondary payer cannot be billed by the clinic or supply company for any charges over the Method I or Method II allowable charges once their Medicare becomes effective. This means that the dialysis clinic must discount its bill to Medicare (primary or secondary) patients to 100% of what Medicare allows for dialysis and other Medicare covered services. This can save a patient a lot of money!
Thank you for this explanation of charges. Beth. but this is not what I was asking in my original question.
We don’t have any idea, but personally I doubt that solutions are a major part of the cost of supplies.
FWIW you use approximately the same amount of solutions for SDD and ND. As many people have said over the months, you do a much faster flow during SDD and a much slower, thus easier, flow during nightly.
Many if not all of your questions have been answered, you might try rereading the boards, or trying the search function.
Cathy
Cathy writes:
FWIW you use approximately the same amount of solutions for SDD and ND. As many people have said over the months, you do a much faster flow during SDD and a much slower, thus easier, flow during nightly
This sounds right to me and what I wanted to know. But another party told me otherwise, recently. which is why I am checking it out.
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Cathy is 100% right. I know because I’ve done both short daily and daily nocturnal with no change in machinery. In my program, jugs of premixed acidified and bicarbonate are delivered to my home by Baxter. These are the same jugs they use in centre (unless they have a central system). It’s one acifidied and one bicarbonate jug per treatment. Since short daily runs the dialysate at 500, it uses it up faster than nocturnal does at 300. But since it’s a shorter tx, it ends up roughly the same. You have more bicard and acidified left over to flush away from a short daily, and less from an 8 hour nocturnal. In either case, it doesn’t matter, because once opened, these jugs must be used within 24 hours. So, no matter how you look at it, it’s one set of jugs for one treatment when at home.
Pierre