Trump’s Ambitious Order Aims To Revolutionize ‘Stagnant’ Kidney Care System With Focus On Cost, Care And Donors

The New York Times: Trump Proposes Ways To Improve Care For Kidney Disease And Increase Transplants
President Trump issued a sweeping set of proposals aimed at improving medical care for the tens of millions of Americans who have kidney disease, a long-overlooked condition that kills more people than breast cancer. “This is a first, second and third step. It’s more than just a first step,” Mr. Trump said in a speech Wednesday, which was attended by patients, advocates and industry executives. (Abelson and Thomas, 7/10)

The Washington Post: Trump Signs Executive Order Revamping Kidney Care, Organ Transplantation
In an executive order signed by President Trump Wednesday morning, the administration also committed to move many people receiving kidney dialysis away from commercial centers to less expensive, more convenient in-home care. By 2025, the administration wants 80 percent of newly-diagnosed kidney failure patients to receive a transplant or get dialysis at home. Trump, speaking at a morning ceremony at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, said the order delivers “groundbreaking action to millions of Americans suffering from kidney disease. It’s a big deal.” (Bernstein, 7/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Signs Executive Order On Kidney Disease
The order seeks to improve efforts to prevent, detect and treat kidney disease. It includes a public awareness campaign and will encourage the development of artificial kidneys, with the goal of doubling the number of available kidneys—real and artificial—by 2030, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar told reporters in a briefing Wednesday. The order will grant reimbursements to individuals who donate kidneys for costs associated with the transplant, such as lost wages. (Ballhaus, 7/10)

CNBC: Trump Signs Executive Order Overhauling Kidney Transplant, Dialysis Market
The administration is pushing for the development of artificial kidneys and earlier diagnosis of kidney disease. Federal health officials aim to double the number of available kidneys, including artificial, by 2030, Azar said. Under the order, the administration says it will also streamline and expedite the process of kidney matching in order to help increase transplants. (Lovelace, 7/10)

The Hill: Trump Signs Executive Order Aimed At Improving Kidney Disease Treatment
A key part of the plan would shake up a multibillion-dollar industry, run by two dialysis companies, that favors expensive treatment in health centers instead of home-based services that can be easier for patients. Currently, only 12 percent of dialysis patients receive treatment at home. Patients who receive dialysis in centers often go multiple times a week. (Hellmann, 7/10)

USA Today: Trump Signs Executive Order Aimed At Helping Kidney Disease Patients
Officials cited a study that suggests long term it may be possible to find 17,000 more kidneys and 11,000 other organs from deceased donors for transplant every year. “It’s truly an exciting day for advancing kidney health in our country,” Trump said. (Cummings, 7/10)

The Associated Press: Trump Signs Order Directing Government To Overhaul Care For Kidney Disease
More than 94,000 of the 113,000 people on the national organ waiting list need a kidney. Last year, there were 21,167 kidney transplants. Of those, 6,442 were from living donors, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees the nation's transplant system. "The longer you're on dialysis, the outcomes are worse," said Amit Tevar, a transplant surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, who praised the Trump administration initiatives. (Neergaard, 7/10)

CNN: Trump Signs Executive Order To Transform Kidney Care, Increase Transplants
When patients don't learn they're ill until it gets to a critical stage, they cannot take preventive steps, and often need dialysis or a transplant. Of the 100,000 Americans who start dialysis each year, 50% die within five years, according to the president. The goal of the executive order is to reduce the number of end-stage renal disease patients by 25% by 2030. (Christensen and Klein, 7/10)

Modern Healthcare: Kidney Disease Care Overhaul Proposed By Trump Administration
More than 30 million Americans have some stage of kidney disease. In 2016 it was the ninth-leading cause of death in the United States. Medicare spent $113 billion in 2016 to cover people with kidney disease, including end-stage renal disease, representing more than one-fifth of its spending. Azar had stated that current payment policies were biased toward center-based dialysis, and that dialysis companies were disincentivized from helping patient get ready for and find a transplant. (Hirsch, 7/10)

PBS NewsHour: Trump’s Plan To Combat Kidney Disease Aims To Save Money And Lives. Can It?
The president said the order is part of his administration’s broader health care policies, including efforts to reduce prescription drug prices. Some of those efforts, such as requiring drug companies to list prices in TV ads, have been criticized for trying to solve complex problems with oversimplified solutions. (Frazee, 7/10)

NPR: Trump Executive Order To Encourage In-Home Dialysis And More Kidney Donations
Better prevention of kidney failure is desperately needed, according to Dr. Holly Mattix-Kramer, a kidney specialist at Loyola University Chicago and the president of the National Kidney Foundation. Mattix-Kramer was among dozens of kidney specialists and patient advocates who attended the announcement Wednesday. "We're extremely excited," she says. "For so long we felt like no one was paying attention to this epidemic of kidney disease." (Simmons-Duffin and Wroth, 7/10)

CNBC: Kidney Dialysis Stocks Soar As Investors Cheer Trump Executive Order
Shares of Davita, which fell by more than 5% after the news of the pending order broke Tuesday, rebounded Wednesday. The stock closed up by 4% Wednesday to $54.65 a share. U.S. traded shares of Fresenius Medical Care gained 2.5% Tuesday, closing at $38.41, after dropping by 5% Tuesday. (Combs, 7/11)

Kaiser Health News: Using Obamacare Authority, Trump Aims To Shift Dialysis Care To Patients’ Homes
Dr. Mark Rosenberg, president of the American Society of Nephrology, said he was pleased that some of the new payment models offered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have only “upside” potential for doctors. He said doctors now get paid more to see their patients at the dialysis center than at home. As a result, there is little incentive to promote home dialysis options. “I have been a kidney doctor for 35 years, and this is the most game-changing thing ever to happen,” he said. (Galewitz, 7/10)

Meanwhile, the president is relying on a system set in place by the health law for his ambitious health goals while at the same time trying to destroy it —

The New York Times: Trump’s Assault On Obamacare Could Undermine His Own Health Initiatives
In court, the Trump administration is trying to get all of Obamacare erased. But at the White House, President Trump and his health officials are busily using the law to pursue key proposals. Last week, the president highlighted a policy in the works meant to narrow the gaps between what drugs cost in the United States and overseas. On Wednesday, he signed an executive order to transform care for patients with kidney disease. Both measures were made possible by a provision in the Affordable Care Act, and both would be effectively gutted if the administration’s position prevailed in court. (Sanger-Katz, 7/11)