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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), also known as
3kidney failure, currently impacts 661,000 Americans, and more
4than 89,000 Americans die from ESRD annually; and
 
5    WHEREAS, More than 115,000 new ESRD cases are diagnosed
6each year and more than 5,100 of those live in Illinois; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Dialysis or a kidney transplant are the only
8treatments for ESRD; 70% of ESRD patients are on dialysis; and
 
9    WHEREAS, When dialysis is the method of treatment, a
10patient can obtain treatment in their home with either home
11hemodialysis (HHD) or peritoneal dialysis (PD); transportation
12to a dialysis center 3 times a week for hemodialysis is also an
13option; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Home dialysis provides significant economic and
15lifestyle advantages such as greater autonomy and flexibility
16over when a patient dialyzes; it reduces dependence on
17transportation, as there is no travel to a clinic for
18treatments, and is therefore more conducive for work, which is
19demonstrated by higher rates of employment among home dialysis
20patients; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, The first three months of dialysis cost, on
2average, upwards of $43,000 per patient; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Access to a home dialysis training program allows
4for Medicaid patients to move to Medicare as their primary
5payer on day one of treatment, not at month four, which is
6called the "Medicare waiting period" and therefore saves the
7State of Illinois significant costs; and
 
8    WHEREAS, The three-month Medicare waiting period creates
9significant costs for states; if there are 1,000 new Medicaid
10cases of ESRD in Illinois, this could mean as much as $43
11million in annual Medicaid costs during the waiting period; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Only 10% of dialysis patients receive treatment at
13home; and
 
14    WHEREAS, ESRD disproportionately affects minority
15Americans; incidence among African Americans are 3.7 times
16greater than in caucasians; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Hispanic patients are 13% less likely to receive
18PD and 37% less likely to receive HHD, while African American
19patients are 29% less likely to receive PD and 17% less likely
20to receive HHD; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, There is less home hemodialysis and home training
2in poorer counties, and counties with fewer minorities offer
3greater access to home hemodialysis; and
 
4    WHEREAS, There are other barriers that preclude many
5patients from accessing home dialysis which include the lack of
6sufficient provider education about home dialysis,
7insufficient reimbursement for home dialysis, limited patient
8awareness of the home modality, and potentially burdensome
9requirements for care partner support; most of these barriers
10were also noted in a report by the U.S. Government
11Accountability Office issued in the fall of 2015; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Policymakers can alleviate these burdens by
13focusing on telehealth, medical waste laws, and reimbursement;
14they can enable and encourage providers to offer more home
15dialysis to more of their patients and to provide a pathway for
16staff-assisted home hemodialysis; therefore, be it
 
17    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL
18ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize the
19importance of equal access to all dialysis modalities for End
20Stage Renal Disease to preserve State funds by enabling more
21patients who can benefit from home dialysis to receive access;
22and be it further
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, That we urge State agencies and policymakers to
2implement policies to decrease the lack of access to home
3dialysis modalities, which disproportionately affects
4African-Americans and other minorities, by improving access to
5home dialysis; and be it further
 
6    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
7delivered to Governor Rauner, Senate President James
8Cullerton, Speaker of the House of Representatives Michael
9Madigan, Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno, and House of
10Representatives Minority Leader Jim Durkin.