Bill Text: IL SR1741 | 2015-2016 | 99th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Recognizes the importance of equal access to all dialysis modalities for End Stage Renal Disease to preserve State funds by enabling more patients who can benefit from home dialysis to receive access. Urges State agencies and policymakers to implement policies to decrease the disproportionate number of African-Americans and other minorities' lack of access to home dialysis modalities by improving access to home dialysis.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Passed) 2016-05-31 - Resolution Adopted [SR1741 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2015-SR1741-Introduced.html

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SENATE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), also known as
kidney failure, currently impacts 661,000 Americans, and more
than 89,000 Americans die from ESRD annually; and
WHEREAS, More than 115,000 new ESRD cases are diagnosed
each year and more than 5,100 of those live in Illinois; and
WHEREAS, Dialysis or a kidney transplant are the only
treatments for ESRD; 70% of ESRD patients are on dialysis; and
WHEREAS, When dialysis is the method of treatment, a
patient can obtain treatment in their home with either home
hemodialysis (HHD) or peritoneal dialysis (PD); transportation
to a dialysis center 3 times a week for hemodialysis is also an
option; and
WHEREAS, Home dialysis provides significant economic and
lifestyle advantages such as greater autonomy and flexibility
over when a patient dialyzes; it reduces dependence on
transportation, as there is no travel to a clinic for
treatments, and is therefore more conducive for work, which is
demonstrated by higher rates of employment among home dialysis
patients; and

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WHEREAS, The first three months of dialysis cost, on
average, upwards of $43,000 per patient; and
WHEREAS, Access to a home dialysis training program allows
for Medicaid patients to move to Medicare as their primary
payer on day one of treatment, not at month four, which is
called the "Medicare waiting period" and therefore saves the
State of Illinois significant costs; and
WHEREAS, The three-month Medicare waiting period creates
significant costs for states; if there are 1,000 new Medicaid
cases of ESRD in Illinois, this could mean as much as $43
million in annual Medicaid costs during the waiting period; and
WHEREAS, Only 10% of dialysis patients receive treatment at
home; and
WHEREAS, ESRD disproportionately affects minority
Americans; incidence among African Americans are 3.7 times
greater than in caucasians; and
WHEREAS, Hispanic patients are 13% less likely to receive
PD and 37% less likely to receive HHD, while African American
patients are 29% less likely to receive PD and 17% less likely
to receive HHD; and

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WHEREAS, There is less home hemodialysis and home training
in poorer counties, and counties with fewer minorities offer
greater access to home hemodialysis; and
WHEREAS, There are other barriers that preclude many
patients from accessing home dialysis which include the lack of
sufficient provider education about home dialysis,
insufficient reimbursement for home dialysis, limited patient
awareness of the home modality, and potentially burdensome
requirements for care partner support; most of these barriers
were also noted in a report by the U.S. Government
Accountability Office issued in the fall of 2015; and
WHEREAS, Policymakers can alleviate these burdens by
focusing on telehealth, medical waste laws, and reimbursement;
they can enable and encourage providers to offer more home
dialysis to more of their patients and to provide a pathway for
staff-assisted home hemodialysis; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize the
importance of equal access to all dialysis modalities for End
Stage Renal Disease to preserve State funds by enabling more
patients who can benefit from home dialysis to receive access;
and be it further

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RESOLVED, That we urge State agencies and policymakers to
implement policies to decrease the lack of access to home
dialysis modalities, which disproportionately affects
African-Americans and other minorities, by improving access to
home dialysis; and be it further
RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
delivered to Governor Rauner, Senate President James
Cullerton, Speaker of the House of Representatives Michael
Madigan, Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno, and House of
Representatives Minority Leader Jim Durkin.