Safety-Net Care for Maintenance Dialysis in the United States.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Although most American patients with ESKD become eligible for Medicare by their fourth month of dialysis, some never do. Information about where patients with limited health insurance receive maintenance dialysis has been lacking.

Methods

We identified patients initiating maintenance dialysis (2008-2015) from the US Renal Data System, defining patients as "safety-net reliant" if they were uninsured or had only Medicaid coverage at dialysis onset and had not qualified for Medicare by the fourth dialysis month. We examined four dialysis facility ownership categories according to for-profit/nonprofit status and ownership (chain versus independent). We assessed whether patients who were safety-net reliant were more likely to initiate dialysis at certain facility types

SUBMITTER: Erickson KF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7003304 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature