Washington, DC September 12, 2025 --(PR.com)-- Kidney Care Partners (KCP)—the nation’s largest non-profit, non-partisan kidney care coalition representing patients, dialysis professionals, physicians, nurses, researchers, therapeutic innovators, transplant coordinators, and manufacturers—today commended Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) for introducing the bipartisan Kidney Care Access Protection Act (KCAPA) (S. 2730), which would ensure appropriate reimbursement for quality care and improve patient access to innovative drugs, treatments, and technologies.

“The millions of Americans living with kidney disease deserve access to the highest-quality care available,” said Senator Blackburn. “Our bipartisan Kidney Care Access Protection Act would ensure patients can access innovative treatments while modernizing Medicare’s payment system so that facilities can keep their doors open.”

“Access to high-quality, affordable healthcare is vital for our communities, especially for the millions of Americans managing chronic conditions like kidney disease. This commonsense legislation will break down needless barriers to kidney care, moving us closer to a more equitable healthcare system and encouraging much-needed innovations,” said Senator Booker.

Medicare coverage for patients with kidney failure was designed to ensure broad access to high-quality care, and today, more than 63% of people living with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) rely on Medicare as their primary insurer. However, current, overly restrictive bundling rules have discouraged the development and adoption of new therapies, meaning that patients with kidney disease lack access to the innovations that those with other chronic conditions do. Meanwhile, payments to dialysis providers have fallen short of accurately accounting for inflation, threatening the financial stability of dialysis facilities, particularly in rural and underserved areas.
If passed, KCAPA would address these systemic challenges by establishing a long-term, sustainable Medicare payment pathway for innovative drugs, devices, and technologies, ensuring that patients can access cutting-edge treatments while also incentivizing research and development of new treatments. It would also implement a forecast error adjustment in the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) payment system, helping facilities weather inflationary pressures and keep their doors open to patients.

“Kidney disease has lagged behind other disease states in terms of access to innovative new therapies. Despite being one of the fastest-growing non-communicative diseases that impacts more than 35 million Americans, the number of new innovations ranks amongst the lowest for patients with kidney disease, in large part due to nuances of the payment system,” said Mahesh Krishnan, MD, MPH, MBA, Chair of Kidney Care Partners. “The challenges that the kidney care community faces today require bold solutions. We thank lawmakers for introducing this bill to move us in the right direction as the first step to pursuing long-term reform that further benefits patients.”

“As the voice of the nation’s kidney care community, Kidney Care Partners looks forward to working alongside policymakers to champion this legislation,” said LaVarne A. Burton, Chair-Elect of Kidney Care Partners and President & CEO of the American Kidney Fund.

“We thank Senators Blackburn and Booker for introducing the Kidney Care Access Protection Act – a bipartisan solution that helps address the structural payment issues that have limited patients’ access to care and innovations for years,” said Hrant Jamgochian, CEO of Dialysis Patient Citizens.

“People with kidney failure should have access to innovative treatments by funds following the patients, and not a one size fits all model that discourages innovation and underfunds patient & physician choice,” said Lori Hartwell, the Founder and President of the Renal Support Network (RSN). “The Kidney Care Access Protection Act is a step forward.”

Contact Information:
Kidney Care Partners
Megan Schremp
314-398-9860
Contact via Email
http://www.kidneycarepartners.org

Read the full story here: https://www.pr.com/press-release/948363

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