Medicare Anniversary an Opportunity to Cut Costs, Improve Care

This month marks the 57^th anniversary of the public health system that provides care to millions of American seniors and individuals with disabilities: Medicare. Unfortunately, the critical program is straining under the weight of sky-high healthcare costs and the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, newly approved technology can help reign in the costs — and improve patient outcomes — for one of the most pervasive chronic illnesses, chronic kidney disease (CKD).

For the sake of the Medicare system, we need to promote new options that have a proven track record of promoting early detection of CKD, thereby improving patient outcomes while reducing healthcare costs. Treating CKD and End Stage Renal Disease currently costs Medicare over $138.2 billion. In 2019, the Medicare system spent $12.9 billion on dialysis treatments alone.