As large chains grow to dominate dialysis, patient outcomes decline

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-10/du-alc102319.php

News Release 23-Oct-2019
Duke University

As large, for-profit dialysis chains acquired more than 1,200 smaller providers across the U.S. from 1998 to 2010, they cut skilled medical staff, increased patient volumes, altered drug regimens and adopted other practices that hurt patient health, according to new research from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.

The researchers examined patient and facility data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and identified specific changes in practice after clinics were acquired by large firms. Highly skilled nurses were replaced with less-skilled technicians to reduce labor costs, patient loads per employee were increased by 11.7% and the number of patients treated at each dialysis station grew by 4.5%.

The Duke study has been peer-reviewed and posted online as a working draft by the Quarterly Journal of Economics.

•••••