DaVita Announces Industry-Leading Quality Incentive Program Results
February 14 2012 - 6:00AM
Business Wire
DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA), a leading provider of kidney care
services that is committed to improving the quality of life for
those diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD), today announced
its 2011 End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Quality Incentive Program
(QIP) results from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
(CMS).
DaVita® outperformed the industry with 75 percent of the
company’s clinics ranking in the top clinical performance tier,
versus 71 percent for the rest of the industry.
“Helping our patients live longer and enjoy a better quality of
life is our constant focus at DaVita,” said Dr. Allen R. Nissenson,
DaVita’s chief medical officer. “Our QIP results demonstrate that
our holistic, comprehensive care approach works."
QIP is part of Medicare’s ESRD quality incentive aimed at
improving the quality of care provided to patients. It was designed
in part to be the nation's first pay-for-performance quality
incentive program mandated through a series of reforms passed into
law in 2008. CMS describes QIP as a “first-of-its-kind program
(that) provides the ESRD community with the opportunity to enhance
the overall quality of care that ESRD patients receive as they
battle this devastating disease.”1
“DaVita and the industry are working with CMS to improve quality
for our patients in several aspects,” said DaVita Group Vice
President LeAnne Zumwalt. “We look forward to partnering with CMS
on the development and implementation of the expanded QIP in 2014
and beyond.”
QIP takes two clinical areas into account. The first is anemia
management, and the second is Urea Reduction Ratio (URR).
URR determines how effectively a dialysis treatment removes
waste from the body and is commonly noted as a percentage. While
there is no fixed percentage to represent “adequate dialysis,”
studies have shown that patients with a URR of 65 percent or
greater are less likely to suffer from adverse symptoms including
nausea, and loss of appetite. Patients with 65 or greater also have
fewer hospitalizations and live longer. At the end of 2011, DaVita
reported that only 2.7 percent of its patients – an all-time low –
are below the 65 percent baseline.
In 2014, additional measures will be added, including percentage
of patients receiving treatment through an arteriovenous fistula or
catheter.
Since the inception of DaVita’s CathAwayTM program, DaVita has
driven a 30 percent reduction in traditional catheter use
(i.e., those patients who have been dialyzing at DaVita for 90 days
or more using a catheter for dialysis access). DaVita patients were
at an all-time low catheter rate of 15.6 percent near the end of
2011.
DaVita results also showed a nearly 20 percent reduction in
gross mortality rates since 2001, representing thousands of lives
saved.
DaVita has a holistic approach to kidney care that is
patient-centric and considers various aspects of the quality of
treatment. As a result, for 11 consecutive years DaVita patients
have demonstrated improved annual clinical results in several
critical areas, including survival rates, bone and mineral
metabolism management, dialysis adequacy and preventative care such
as immunizations.
DaVita and CathAway are trademarks or registered trademark of
DaVita Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.
About DaVita
DaVita Inc., a Fortune 500® company, is a leading provider of
kidney care in the United States, delivering dialysis services to
patients with chronic kidney failure and end stage renal disease.
DaVita strives to improve patients’ quality of life by innovating
clinical care, and by offering integrated treatment plans,
personalized care teams and convenient health-management services.
As of September 30, 2011, DaVita operated or provided
administrative services at 1,777 dialysis facilities, serving
approximately 138,000 patients. DaVita supports numerous programs
dedicated to creating positive, sustainable change in communities
around the world. The company’s leadership development initiatives
and social responsibility efforts have been recognized by Fortune,
Modern Healthcare, Newsweek and WorldBlu. For more information,
please visit www.davita.com.
1 http://www.cms.gov/esrdqualityimproveinit/01_overview.asp
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