Tampa, Fla, September 13, 2007 – The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) sent letters to Congressmen Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) and Pete Stark (D-CA) endorsing their support of the Children’s Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act of 2007. The bill includes provisions (Title VI, Subtitle C) that improve care for End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patients while reducing costs.

Section 631 of the bill, the Chronic Kidney Disease Demonstration Projects requires the Center for Medicare Services (CMS) Secretary, acting through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to establish demonstration projects to (1) increase awareness about the factors that lead to, and prevent, chronic kidney disease (CKD); (2) increase screening and use of prevention techniques for CKD and; (3) enhance surveillance systems and expand research to better assess the prevalence and incidence of CKD.

The bill also requires Medicare to cover kidney disease education services and requires training and certification for patient care dialysis technicians, all provisions AAKP has been pushing our nation’s lawmakers to act on. “These improvements in the quality of care are critical to maintaining the health of our kidney disease population”, said Kris Robinson, AAKP Executive Director/CEO. “It shows that quality of patient services can be preserved – and actually enhanced – while achieving savings.”

To read AAKP’s statement, click here.