Medicare's End-Stage Renal Disease Program
Current Status and Future Prospects
Published in: Health Affairs, v. 18, no. 1, Jan./Feb. 1999, p. 161-179
Posted on RAND.org on December 31, 1998
Read More
Access further information on this document at content.healthaffairs.orgThis article was published outside of RAND. The full text of the article can be found at the link above.
The twenty-five years of the end-stage renal disease (ESRD) program have been characterized by remarkable clinical achievements, which have prolonged and improved the quality of life for thousands of patients. As the program enters the next millennium, it faces considerable challenges: As the number and acuity of patients increase, the availability of trained nephrologists will decrease, and total costs will continue to rise. Policymakers will need to work closely with the renal professional and patient communities to develop creative approaches to delivering and financing ESRD care that is of the highest quality, yet is affordable.
This article was published outside of RAND. The full text of the article can be found at the link above.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation external publication series. Many RAND studies are published in peer-reviewed scholarly journals, as chapters in commercial books, or as documents published by other organizations.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.