The Economics of Chronic Renal Disease
The Economics of End Stage Renal Disease
Tammy Reed
Walden University
NURS 6050: Policy and Advocacy for Improving Population Health
April 6, 2013
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is diagnosed by screening people who are at risk for kidney problems, people with hypertension, diabetes or family with chronic kidney disease. There are five stages of chronic kidney disease, with stage one being the mildest and usually causing few symptoms and stage five being a serious illness with short life expectancy if untreated (NKD). Stage five is also known as End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), it is a direct result of chronic kidney disease. It is at this point that the kidneys can no longer remove toxins from the body through urine. There is no cure for CKD but requires treatment for survival, either a kidney transplant or dialysis. A kidney transplant is a treatment not a cure for end stage renal disease patients. However, it the doctor thinks this is an option then patients are medically evaluated at a transplant hospital. Evaluation is done by x-rays, blood work and other tissue factors to determine if your body will accept a kidney. If the medical evaluation proves you to be a good candidate you are placed on the transplant donor’s waiting list to receive a kidney from a deceased donor. There are currently 90,000 people on the kidney transplant waiting list. The average wait time is three to five years. In 2005, the cost of a kidney transplant was approximately $210,000 according to the National Kidney Center website. Insurance companies cover most of the cost but depending on the type of plan the patient may be left with some out of pocket expenses. Medicare is a federally run health insurance program available to people 65 or older, people with certain disabilities or people with ESRD. Medicaid is also a health insurance program, but is run by individual states. Some Medicaid programs do not cover transplantation. According to the article End Stage Renal
Tammy Reed
Walden University
NURS 6050: Policy and Advocacy for Improving Population Health
April 6, 2013
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is diagnosed by screening people who are at risk for kidney problems, people with hypertension, diabetes or family with chronic kidney disease. There are five stages of chronic kidney disease, with stage one being the mildest and usually causing few symptoms and stage five being a serious illness with short life expectancy if untreated (NKD). Stage five is also known as End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), it is a direct result of chronic kidney disease. It is at this point that the kidneys can no longer remove toxins from the body through urine. There is no cure for CKD but requires treatment for survival, either a kidney transplant or dialysis. A kidney transplant is a treatment not a cure for end stage renal disease patients. However, it the doctor thinks this is an option then patients are medically evaluated at a transplant hospital. Evaluation is done by x-rays, blood work and other tissue factors to determine if your body will accept a kidney. If the medical evaluation proves you to be a good candidate you are placed on the transplant donor’s waiting list to receive a kidney from a deceased donor. There are currently 90,000 people on the kidney transplant waiting list. The average wait time is three to five years. In 2005, the cost of a kidney transplant was approximately $210,000 according to the National Kidney Center website. Insurance companies cover most of the cost but depending on the type of plan the patient may be left with some out of pocket expenses. Medicare is a federally run health insurance program available to people 65 or older, people with certain disabilities or people with ESRD. Medicaid is also a health insurance program, but is run by individual states. Some Medicaid programs do not cover transplantation. According to the article End Stage Renal
References: Retrieved from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronickidneydisease Retrieved from nationalkidneycenter, http://www.nationalkidneycenter.org Sullivan, J. D., “End stage renal disease economics and the balance of treatment modalities, J. Service Science & Management, 2010, 3: 45-50. Teofilou, P., “Quality of life in patients undergoing hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis treatment,” Journal of Clinical Medical Research, 2011, June: (3)3: 132-138.