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Conflicts of interest in dialysis: A barrier to policy reforms
Author(s) -
Glickman Aaron,
Lin Eugene,
Berns Jeffrey S.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
seminars in dialysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1525-139X
pISSN - 0894-0959
DOI - 10.1111/sdi.12848
Subject(s) - conflict of interest , medicine , dialysis , nephrology , variety (cybernetics) , actuarial science , intensive care medicine , public relations , finance , business , political science , artificial intelligence , computer science
Conflicts of interest involving physicians are commonplace in the US, occurring across many different specialties and subspecialties in a variety of clinical settings. In nephrology, two important scenarios in which conflicts of interest arise are dialysis facility joint venture (JV) arrangements and financial participation in End‐stage Kidney Disease Seamless Care Organizations (ESCOs). Whether conflicts of interest occurring in either of these settings influence decision‐making or patient care outcomes is not known due to a lack of transparent, publicly available information, and opportunities to conduct independent study. We discuss possible benefits and risks of nephrologist's financial participation in JVs and ESCOs and possible mechanisms for disclosure and reporting of such arrangements as well as risk mitigation.