You MUST contact your Congressional Representatives now or you may have to go back to three treatments per week. I received this information from NxStage today via email. Here’s why it matters to you –

A proposed change to Medicare dialysis coverage that could restrict your access to more frequent home hemodialysis.

Here’s what you should know:

• Medicare has a long-standing policy of paying for more frequent hemodialysis treatment when medically necessary and included in a patient’s plan of care.

• Medicare contracts with insurance companies (known as Medicare Administrative Contractors, or “MACs” for short) to manage your Medicare claims and they have the power to determine what qualifies for Medicare coverage and, as a result, what qualifies for Medicare payment.

• Recently, these MACs announced that in most cases, they won’t authorize coverage for more than three hemodialysis sessions per week. If this change happens, Medicare may no longer pay for more than three treatments per week, even if it’s what the doctor wants done.

Here’s how you can help:

•Let your voice be heard TODAY! The MAC that manages your Medicare claims, Medicare and your Members of Congress need to know how important more frequent hemodialysis is to you. As you’ll see below, we’ve worked with the Alliance for Home Dialysis who has a Legislative Action Center where you can quickly and easily get your message to the people who will make the final decision on these proposals.

• This is URGENT. Without an uprising from patients and the entire dialysis community, more frequent dialysis could be denied for thousands of patients as soon as the end of this year. These MACs will soon decide whether these proposed restrictions on more frequent dialysis will happen. Your MAC, Medicare – and your representatives in Congress – need to hear from patients like you about the benefits you have experienced with more frequent hemodialysis. They need to see how this has improved your health and how it makes a difference in your life

• Here’s how to get involved and have your voice heard: It’s easy for you to make a difference and to share your positive experiences with more frequent hemodialysis. Just visit STOPtheMACs.comfor more information about this issue. The website is preloaded with a sample message you can customize and share with your MAC, Medicare and your elected officials with just the click of a button. We’ve even pre-loaded the site with sample messages for you to send on Twitter and Facebook. And please use the hashtag, #STOPtheMACs.

• Help us spread the word to others who care. The MACs and Washington need to hear from people like you – current patients – but also from your friends and loved ones, transplanted patients, caregivers, neighbors, doctors and nurses … anyone who shares our belief that kidney patients should have access to more frequent hemodialysis.

After you send your message, please encourage others to visit STOPtheMACs.com. And don’t forget to use your social media accounts, like Twitter and Facebook, to ask others to help protect patient access to more frequent dialysis. And post a picture or video with your message. Information on how to do that can be found here. And with all of your social media posts, include the hashtag #StoptheMACs.

As you know, more frequent dialysis has significant health benefits, including improved cardiovascular health and blood pressure, reductions in medication requirements, lower overall health care costs, and improvements in post-dialysis recovery time, and quality-of-life. Additional sessions may also increase the chance for transplantation and allow patients to live longer, more productive lives.

Dialysis patients, both now and for years to come, could lose access to more than three treatments per week if the proposed changes are allowed to go into effect.

Now is the time to stand up and make your voice heard, before it’s too late. Please take action today. These MACs will make the decision soon, make certain they’ve heard your voice. If you would like to discuss this issue directly, please contact Linda Upchurch, NxStage Director of Public Policy, at lupchurch@nxsta.com .

Here’s a link to locate you Congressional representatives:

https://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

Here’s a link to contact your Congressional Representatives via Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/townhall

I used the links above to send my Congressional leaders a note. I followed the recommended text at STOPtheMACS.com, and added another paragraph explains my personal situation, and if this is allowed to continue the drastic negative effect it would have on my life. Please take a few minutes and do the same.