Goals include disease prevention, switch to at-home dialysis, early transplants
WEDNESDAY, July 10, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Significant changes in how kidney disease is treated in the United States are outlined in an executive order that was signed Wednesday by President Donald Trump.
The objective is to switch from a system that emphasizes costly, time-consuming dialysis in large centers to at-home dialysis or transplants that can lengthen patients’ lives, the Associated Press reported. Another goal is to improve prevention of kidney disease.
There is a severe organ shortage, which could impede the push for more transplants. To tackle that problem, the administration wants to ease financial challenges for living donors. The executive order also includes measures to help groups that collect organs from deceased donors. Officials pointed to a study suggesting that in the long term, it may be possible to find 17,000 more kidneys and 11,000 other organs from deceased donors for transplant every year, the AP reported.
The moves could save lives and millions in Medicare spending, the AP reported.
AP News Article
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