“AAKP commends CMS Administrator Dr. Mark B. McClellan for his commitment to the ‘patient voice,’” said AAKP President Brenda Dyson.

TAMPA, Fla. – The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Federal agency that operates the Medicare program, announced the appointment of AAKP Executive Director, Kris Robinson, to serve on a newly created Medicare advisory board. The panel will oversee a groundbreaking Medicare research project to improve dialysis care for the nation’s 400,000 kidney failure patients.

In addition, William F. Owen, Jr., MD, member of the AAKP National Board of Directors, and Jay Wish, MD, member of the AAKP Medical Advisory Board, were also selected for the Medicare panel.

“AAKP commends CMS Administrator Dr. Mark B. McClellan for his commitment to the ‘patient voice’ in selecting Kris Robinson. Too often, the ‘patient voice’ has not been heard in Washington, D.C., in drafting public policy affecting the lives of kidney patients,” said AAKP President Brenda Dyson. “Kris’ professional work and experience as a kidney transplant recipient continually helps increase the quality of life for millions of kidney patients nationwide.”

“AAKP is very pleased that two physicians with long-standing relationships to AAKP, Dr. William F. Owen, Jr., of Duke University and Dr. Jay Wish of Case Western Reserve University, have also been appointed to the Medicare advisory board. Both men are widely recognized by patients and medical peers as having an unusual dedication to patients. Dr. Owen also has family members with kidney disease,” said Dyson.

The first public meeting of CMS’s advisory board on “Demonstration of a Bundled Case-Mix Adjusted Payment System for End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Service” will be held on Feb. 16 in Baltimore. Advisory board members and demonstration project goals were announced in a Federal Register on Jan. 28. The demonstration project was mandated by the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. This announcement is viewable by clicking here.

AAKP’s programs, such as AAKP Patient Plan^©, aakpRENALIFE, Kidney Beginnings: The Magazine and “Kidney Care: Finding Your Strength,” provide valuable information and support to kidney disease patients and their family members. AAKP serves more than 12,000 members and fulfills educational requests for more than 300,000 individuals yearly. Currently, 400,000 Americans have kidney failure and must receive life-sustaining dialysis or a kidney transplant. In addition, more than 20 million Americans are estimated to have chronic kidney disease – most are unaware of it.

AAKP is the voluntary, patient organization, which for more than 35 years, has been dedicated to improving the lives of fellow kidney patients and their families by helping them deal with the physical, emotional and social impact of kidney disease. The programs offered by AAKP inform and inspire patients and their families to better understand their condition, adjust more readily to their circumstances and assume more normal, productive lives in their communities.

# # #