NN&I - July 2010
National 10 Nephrology News & Issues July 2010Subscribe to our free eNewsletter at www.nephronline.com The Department of Health and Human Services is inten-sifying efforts to reduce infections in health care facilities, and is including dialysis clinics as part of the campaign. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced on June 9 that information in a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association, underscored the urgency to reduce health care-associated infections (HAIs). The study found that among a sample of ambulatory sur -gical centers (ASCs) in three states, two-thirds had infection control lapses identified during routine inspections. "This is concerning, because when lapses in infection control occur, in any health care setting, it puts patients at risk," Sebelius said. A recent report from the CDC showed that progress has been made in reducing HAIs in hospitals, including an 18% decrease in the incident rate of national central-line associated bloodstream infections. Last year, HHS committed $50 million to help states fight HAIs. Of that funding, $10 million went to states to improve the process and increase the frequency of inspections for ambulatory surgical centers. This year, Sebelius says HHS DHHS push on infection control to include ESRD Compiled by Mark E. NeumannOIG subpoenas DaVita on physician joint ventures GAO begins study looking at drug deliveryDaVita Inc. announced May 28 that it received a subpoena from the Dallas office of the Department of Health and Human Services/Office of Inspector General, requesting information on financial relationships between The Government Accountability Office has started meeting with mem-bers of the renal community to begin work on a study due next summer on dialysis providers' ability to offer oral and injectable drugs under the bundled payment system. In a meeting with members of the National Renal Administrators Association last month, the GAO asked them to respond to a number of questions, including: How would dialysis clinics facilitate \037 delivery of oral drugs to patients, and Dems pushing to confirm Berwick as CMS administrator U.S. Senate Democrats said in mid-June they hoped to hold a confirma-tion hearing for Donald Berwick, PhD, the Obama Administration's nomi- nee for administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, before Congress' Independence Day vacation. Senate Republicans have been critical of Berwick since his April 19 nomination, arguing that he supports rationing health care services. DaVita and physicians involved in joint ventures. The subpoena applies to the com -pany and its subsidiaries and covers a time period from Jan. 1, 2005, through the present, and relates to a civil inves-tigation that DaVita previously dis- closed on April 27, the company said. DaVita said it intends to meet with representatives of the government to discuss the scope of the subpoena and needed documents. what are the regulations in their state that govern delivery of oral drugs? How will the bundled payment sys- \037 tem affect a dialysis clinic's ability to provide oral drugs? Will clinics establish protocols for \037 the use of oral medications if they are included in the bundle? Have facilities collected cost data \037 on providing oral drugs to patients? Similar questions were posed on the delivery of injectable drugs. The GAO report is mandated as part off the health care reform law. In MemoriamKidney researcher Saulo Klahr Nephrologist and former National Kidney Foundation president Saulo Klahr died June 3 after an illness. He was 74. Klahr, of Creve Coeur, Mo., was director of the renal division at Washington University School of Medicine from 1972-1992. From 1988-1990, he served as president of the National Kidney Foundation, and was also editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases and Kidney International . He retired in 2007. National_NNI0710_7.indd 10 6/16/10 2:34:05 PM
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