Home Dialysis Risk Prevention Act addressed in House Committee on Ways and Means Hearing
On March 12, 2024, the House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) held a Hearing to examine opportunities and challenges in enhancing access to care in patients´ home and modernizing care in rural and underserved communities.
The Hearing was titled, “Enhancing Access to Care at Home in Rural and Underserved Communities.” and during the Hearing Rep. Adrian Smith (NE-03) made the following remarks:
“Thank you to all our witnesses for joining us today to talk about this important topic. It is amazing to see how new technologies have expanded the boundaries of access to health care. Every day we see new devices which allow services that could previously only be performed in the hospital to be accessed from home. Even though telehealth has made it easier than ever for patients to connect with their providers, it is innovation in medical devices that has most dramatically expanded the ability of patients to safely receive care in their homes.”
“But lack of adequate Medicare coverage can often create roadblocks to adoption of new technologies that expand safe home access to care.
That’s why I introduced the Home Dialysis Risk Prevention Act (H.R.3118), which would reduce the risk home hemodialysis patients face of serious complications from venous needle dislodgement. This legislation would ensure adequate Medicare reimbursement for the sensors and alarms that can detect when the blood return needle slips loose, putting a patient at risk of serious blood loss or death.
“I hope today’s conversation leads to further legislative action on removing outdated regulatory and statutory barriers to accessing these new and revolutionary technologies for greater access to care in our homes.”
The Home Hemodialysis Risk Prevention Act (H.R. 3118) is a bipartisan legislation which aims to provide Medicare coverage for blood loss monitoring and detection devices. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE) and Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM).
”We are very pleased that US House of Representatives is addressing patient safety for hemodialysis at home with this this important legislation. This is in line with Redsense’s focus to provide increased patient safety for home hemodialysis. We look forward to the advancement of this bill.” says Pontus Nobréus, CEO of Redsense Medical.