DENVER, Oct. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- DaVita Kidney Care,
a division of DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. (NYSE: DVA), the
leading independent provider of integrated health and kidney care
services in the United States,
today announced that for the second year in a row, it has been
recognized as the clinical leader among dialysis providers by the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), in its just
released Five-Star Rating System.
According to the latest government ratings, DaVita Kidney Care operates the highest
percentage of four-and five-star centers among all major dialysis
providers by nearly two times.
"Five-Star ratings are about providing transparency for patients
to make informed decisions on where to receive the highest quality
care," said Javier Rodriguez, CEO
for DaVita Kidney Care. "I am
honored that DaVita is being recognized by the government as the
clinical leader. I want to thank our clinical professionals for
their commitment to excellence."
Within the CMS' Five-Star Rating System, each dialysis center
that provides in-center hemodialysis (excluding centers in hospital
settings) receives a rating between one and five based on clinical
performance and patient outcomes. Ratings can be found on the
Dialysis Facility Compare website.
Data is collected and analyzed from seven quality measures:
- Standardized Transfusion Ratio (STrR)
- Standardized Mortality Ratio (SMR)
- Standardized Hospitalization Ratio (SHR)
- Percentage of adult hemodialysis (HD) patients who had enough
waste removed from their blood during dialysis
- Percentage of adult dialysis patients who had
hypercalcemia
- Percentage of adult dialysis patients who received treatment
through arteriovenous fistula
- Percentage of adult patients who had a catheter left in vein
longer than 90 days for their regular hemodialysis treatment
In the other key government quality measure, Medicare's Quality
Incentive Program, released in January of each year, DaVita Kidney Care outperformed other major
dialysis providers with over 98 percent of the company's centers
ranking in the top clinical performance tier compared to an average
of 93 percent for the rest of the industry.
In 2013, DaVita Kidney Care
developed the Patient-Focused Quality Pyramid to help provide
direction for improving patient care and outcomes. The Pyramid
focuses on the fundamentals of dialysis care – dialysis access,
blood-level monitoring, dialysis adequacy, target weight and
parathyroid hormone – and next-generation clinical initiatives that
focus on fluid reduction, diabetes management, medication
management and infection reduction.
- FluidWise® – Our FluidWise program
focuses on educating our physicians, patients and teammates on the
importance of fluid management, sodium intake and weight
management. Early efforts at fluid management have led to greater
than a 10 percentage point decrease in interdialytic weight
gain.
- Step AheadTM – This program helps
coordinate care for dialysis patients who have diabetes, which is a
leading cause of kidney disease.
- MedsMatterTM – MedsMatter, DaVita's
medication management program, focuses on completing timely and
effective home medication reviews as well as providing tools and
services to reduce medication-related patient hospitalization.
- WipeOut InfectionTM – The Wipeout
Infection program aims to lower the risk of infection for dialysis
patients by educating physicians, teammates and patients on the
importance of habits and procedures to prevent infections. DaVita's
vaccination campaign, as part of the WipeOut Program, led to a 92
percent patient influenza vaccination rate.
To learn more about DaVita Kidney
Care's commitment to quality, visit
DaVita.com/Five-Star.
About DaVita Kidney Care
DaVita Kidney
Care is a division of DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc., a
Fortune 500® company that, through its operating divisions,
provides a variety of health care services to patient populations
throughout the United States and abroad. A leading
provider of dialysis services in the United
States, DaVita Kidney Care treats patients with chronic
kidney failure and end stage renal disease. DaVita Kidney
Care 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 June 30, 2015, DaVita Kidney
Care operated or provided administrative services at 2,210
outpatient dialysis centers located in the United
States serving approximately 176,000 patients. The company
also operated 96 outpatient dialysis centers located in 10
countries outside the United States. DaVita Kidney
Care 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 DaVita.com.
Contact Information
Media:
David Gilles
(303) 876-7497
david.gilles@davita.com
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SOURCE DaVita Kidney Care