Potential Effects of the New Medicare Prospective Payment System on Drug Prescription in End-Stage Renal Disease Care

The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services have announced a new Prospective Payment System to reimburse the care furnished by dialysis centers to patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). As of January 2011, most aspects of the outpatient treatment of patients with ESRD will be included in a single payment. In addition to the items previously included in the Composite Rate, injectable drugs and their oral equivalents will be included in this new capitation payment, as will the laboratory tests required for monitoring maintenance dialysis. As of January 2014, oral-only medications will also be included. Physician payments and payments for inpatient care, as well as for care not directly related to ESRD care will continue to be reimbursed separately. Patterns of medication treatment of ESRD patients will likely be revisited, and one can expect pronounced adjustments. Treatment of anemia will likely shift towards less use of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents and somewhat towards higher use of intravenous iron supplements. Average hemoglobin concentrations will decline. Use of intravenous vitamin D analogues will likely be reduced and substituted with their oral equivalents in many patients. One can also expect a temporary trend towards higher use of calcimetics, since their inclusion in the payment bundle is deferred until 2014. Treatment of problems with vascular access patency and of access infections will likely shift to the inpatient setting, and there may be reluctance to quickly accept recovering patients back to the outpatient setting after vascular access intervention. On aggregate, these changes have the potential to alter patient outcomes, but it is currently unclear how these will be and can be monitored.