Endorsement: Proposition 8 isn’t about dialysis care, it’s about punishing non-unionized clinics. Vote no
6 years, 3 months ago

Endorsement: Proposition 8 isn’t about dialysis care, it’s about punishing non-unionized clinics. Vote no

LA Times  

Proposition 8 is a truly odd duck: a proposal that ostensibly seeks to improve dialysis treatment and cut its cost, yet which is opposed by the National Kidney Foundation, the Renal Support Network and other major advocacy groups for dialysis patients. That’s because these groups worry that Proposition 8, which would cap revenues at dialysis centers, would also end up reducing access to care and possibly even increasing costs. The brainchild of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, the measure ostensibly seeks to force the nearly 600 dialysis clinics in the state to spend more on patient care by limiting their profits. Dubbed the “Fair Pricing for Dialysis Act,” Proposition 8 would cap dialysis center revenues at 115% of specified costs related to patient care. If Proposition 8 were truly about improving dialysis care, it would take steps clearly and directly related to quality, such as increasing clinic inspections or boosting competition in the market.

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History of this topic

California voters reject Proposition 29’s mandates for kidney dialysis clinics
2 years, 2 months ago

California voters reject Proposition 29’s mandates for kidney dialysis clinics

LA Times  

For a third time, California voters rejected a statewide mandate to increase medical staffing at dialysis centers. Proposition 29 would have required dialysis clinics to have a doctor, nurse practitioner or physician assistant present while patients are receiving care at any of the state’s 600 dialysis centers. SEIU-UHW was accused during the 2018 and 2020 campaigns of using the ballot …

Your guide to Prop. 29 on California kidney dialysis centers
2 years, 2 months ago

Your guide to Prop. 29 on California kidney dialysis centers

LA Times  

Backers: They said the new rules are designed to keep dialysis patients safe and to hold dialysis providers accountable. David Miller, research director for SEIU-UHW, said the group denies accusations about using the proposition system to unionize dialysis center workers. He said dialysis patients have expressed concern that the centers lack adequate staff if something goes wrong. Critics: The No …

Column: Obscenely rich dialysis firms are spending millions to defeat Proposition 29’s tighter regulations
2 years, 2 months ago

Column: Obscenely rich dialysis firms are spending millions to defeat Proposition 29’s tighter regulations

LA Times  

A good rule of thumb for assessing the value of a business is to look at how much its owners will spend to defend it from regulations. “If we were paying attention to the evidence, there would be major policy changes to address what is a life-or-death situation for thousands of patients each year,” says Samuel Dickman, a co-author of …

Column: Prop. 29 would stiffen requirements for California dialysis clinics. It’s also political extortion
2 years, 3 months ago

Column: Prop. 29 would stiffen requirements for California dialysis clinics. It’s also political extortion

LA Times  

Political extortion was not what reformers intended when they created California’s system of direct democracy 111 years ago. Proposition 29’s patient safeguards are needed, he says, because “these are some of the worst providers in the health industry. And these are some of the frailest patients… “There’s a lot of profit gouging.” But if the situation is that bad, why …

Prop. 23, which would have imposed new regulations on dialysis industry, fails
4 years, 2 months ago

Prop. 23, which would have imposed new regulations on dialysis industry, fails

LA Times  

A $100-million effort to impose new regulations on the dialysis industry was defeated Tuesday. Proposition 23 would have required dialysis clinics to employ at least one doctor who would be on site whenever patients are receiving treatment. The dialysis industry put more than $100 million into fighting the measure, saying the unnecessary added cost would lead to dialysis clinics closing, …

Prop. 23: What you need to know about the dialysis measure
4 years, 2 months ago

Prop. 23: What you need to know about the dialysis measure

LA Times  

Proposition 23 would require dialysis clinics across California to employ at least one doctor who is on-site whenever patients are receiving treatment. This year’s measure would require dialysis clinics to employ a doctor who is on-site when patients are receiving treatment, increase reporting requirements for dialysis infections, require clinics to obtain approval from the state’s public health department before closing …

Endorsement: No on Prop 23. It would raise costs and not improve kidney patients’ care
4 years, 4 months ago

Endorsement: No on Prop 23. It would raise costs and not improve kidney patients’ care

LA Times  

For the second time in two years, California voters will be asked to play the role of healthcare regulators and set rules for how dialysis clinics operate in this state. Proposition 23 — like Proposition 8 in 2018 — would raise costs without delivering a meaningful improvement in the quality of care. The measure would require clinics to keep a …

Column: America’s healthcare system is failing because competition is disappearing
5 years, 3 months ago

Column: America’s healthcare system is failing because competition is disappearing

LA Times  

The two major afflictions besetting the U.S. healthcare system are that its prices are too high, and that although big spending should give us better quality of care, it doesn’t. As a new study of the dialysis industry asserts, the acquisition of thousands of dialysis centers by major commercial firms resulted in higher hospitalization and mortality rates of patients and …

Column: The profiteering dialysis industry made big bucks from killing Proposition 8. Here’s how
6 years, 2 months ago

Column: The profiteering dialysis industry made big bucks from killing Proposition 8. Here’s how

LA Times  

Patient Adrian Perez undergoes dialysis at a DaVita clinic in Sacramento. Case in point: The multimillion-dollar investment by two big dialysis companies in the killing of California’s Proposition 8. The industry’s two leading companies, Denver-based DaVita and the German healthcare conglomerate Fresenius, together accounted for $95.5 million of the industry’s spending against the measure. Had Proposition 8 succeeded, it’s a …

Why California dialysis clinics are spending $111 million to defeat a modest ballot proposition
6 years, 2 months ago

Why California dialysis clinics are spending $111 million to defeat a modest ballot proposition

Salon  

It feels like a scene from a science fiction dystopia: massive corporations pocketing huge profits via a service that literally sucks clients' blood, and which patients will literally die without. “Prop 8 sets lower limits on what insurance companies will be required to pay to dialysis clinics for treatment,” Kathy Fairbanks, a spokeswoman for the opposition campaign, told Salon. “These …

Column: Dialysis firms’ profits are obscene. What will happen if California tries to cap them?
6 years, 5 months ago

Column: Dialysis firms’ profits are obscene. What will happen if California tries to cap them?

LA Times  

The worst maladies of the American healthcare system are related to corporate profits: The competition among insurance companies to avoid the sickest customers and extract the most money from the rest, and the rise of for-profit healthcare providers. Federal prosecutors subpoenaed DaVita and Fresenius last year in connection with an investigation into whether they’ve been steering patients away from Medicare …

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