Research Library

Expanded “payment bundles” for the treatment of end stage kidney disease did not in general increase the risk of closure by dialysis facilities, the authors conclude.

Consolidated dialysis markets have coincided with both positive and negative trends in health care costs and outcomes. If the underlying mechanisms that contributed to past consolidation persist, dialysis markets may remain highly concentrated over the long term.

In this study, the authors investigate where U.S. patients with limited health insurance coverage receive maintenance dialysis. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology: http://bit.ly/2Q15Jpt

The authors assess U.S. health care system and offer a plan for achieving universal health care. The Lancet: http://bit.ly/2lSaqX6

By Kevin F. Erickson, Bo Zhao, Jingbo Niu, Wolfgang C. Winkelmayer, Jay Bhattacharya, Glenn M. Chertow and Vivian Ho The acquisition of independently owned dialysis facilities by facility chains lead to slower decreases in mortality and hospitalization rates, write the authors. JAMA Network Open: https://bit.ly/2WPYGSD

Global deworming programs for children were once believed to improve a child’s chances for health, growth and success in school. New research that claims to debunk the merit of such programs has set off so-called “worm wars” between investigators. The authors aim to resolve the issue through an extended comparison of findings from key economics and epidemiological studies.

By Morgan N. Fredell, Hagop M. Kantarjian, Ya-Chen Shih, Vivian Ho and Binata Mukherjee Current U.S. health care spending includes many areas of wasted expenditures. In this study, published in Cancer, the authors explore plans to optimize U.S. health care to provide greater benefits to patients: https://bit.ly/2TmeoDg

By Eugene Lin, Matthew W. Mell, Wolfgang C. Winkelmayer and Kevin F. Erickson U.S. patients without Medicare who develop end-stage kidney disease become Medicare eligible by their fourth dialysis month. This delay in insurance coverage can lead to disparities in health care that may not fully correct over time, write the authors in the Clinical Journal of American Society of Nephrology: https://bit.ly/2SEW20u

Federal mandates have affected nearly all areas of dialysis care delivery. Nonresident scholar Kevin F. Erickson and Wolfgang C. Winkelmayer evaluate the evidence behind two prior federal mandates to assess how the quality of evidence supporting each policy contributed to its overall success.

In a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, nonresident scholar Kevin Erickson — an assistant professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine — and his co-authors examined associations between dialysis facility performance and patient experience measures as well as patient, facility and geographic characteristics: