New York dialysis care named worst

U.S. government records charge that dialysis care in New York is among the worst in the country.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid reports on the care given to Type 2 diabetes patients with failing kidneys ranked New York state last out of 18 regions in all three quality measures for 2003 and 2004, The New York Times reported Thursday.

The measures recorded by the reports were the likelihood that enough excess fluid would be removed from a patient's blood during dialysis, the probability that enough impurities would be removed and the odds of a patient becoming anemic or severely anemic due to the treatment.

Data released by the federal government show that patients at national chain centers generally receive a better quality of care than patients at independent providers, leading New York officials to reconsider a state law keeping the chain centers out, the Times said.

"With the need for dialysis on the rise, the department is questioning whether it makes sense not to allow these large corporations to participate," Jeffrey W. Hammond, a N.Y. Department of Health spokesman, told the newspaper.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International