This bill expands Medicare coverage and support for chronic kidney disease patients across several areas. It adds kidney disease screening to Medicare's annual wellness visits and expands kidney disease education benefits to include stage V kidney disease and allows physician assistants and nurse practitioners to provide these services through dialysis facilities. The legislation reforms how Medicare pays for new and innovative kidney disease drugs and devices by implementing add-on payments based on actual cost data rather than requiring budget neutrality, and it extends similar payment adjustments to Medicare Advantage plans. The bill also authorizes a study on barriers to kidney transplantation and ways to increase donation rates, directs the Department of Health and Human Services to address workforce shortages by including nephrology professionals in health service corps scholarship and loan repayment programs, and guarantees that Medicare supplemental insurance (Medigap) coverage is available to all beneficiaries with end-stage renal disease, with a special enrollment period from January through June 2023 for certain newly eligible patients. The bill's kidney disease education provisions became effective in 2022, while most payment reform changes take effect in 2024.
Take Action
Your position
Add a comment
to comment on this bill.
Annotate the text
Highlight any passage on the Summary or Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.