ASPN Medical News

Nephrology News:

Medical News:

Lumisiran approved to treat Hyperoxaluria type 1

FDA Approves First Oral Therapy for Lupus Nephritis

Administrative/Policy News:

CMS EQRS System Announcement (from 2/1/21)

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is aware of the challenges that some users are experiencing with
submitting data via the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Quality Reporting System (EQRS). We are committed to ensuring the accuracy and reliability of our data, and are working to rapidly resolve these issues. We appreciate the feedback that we’ve received from the dialysis community, which helped us to identify these issues quickly. We will continue to monitor and assess our systems for any issues on an ongoing basis as a part of continuous process improvement and to ensure a positive user experience.

At this time, we are suspending EQRS Clinical Data, In-Center Hemodialysis Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (ICH CAHPS) Attestation, and Clinical Depression Screening and Follow-Up Plan submission effective immediately. Users should not send any additional clinical data to CMS while we work towards implementing solutions that can support data reporting requirements and the EQRS user community’s needs. Users must continue to use EQRS to complete tasks such as admit and discharge patients, complete CMS forms (such as the 2728, 2744, and 2746), add or update treatment summaries, and resolve notifications within a timely manner. Users should also continue to keep facilities’ information up-to-date. Please note that all previously submitted data is stored in EQRS and will not be lost. We will remain in close communication with the dialysis community over the coming weeks and will provide updated information on submission requirements and deadlines soon. We look forward to continue working together to enhance the ESRD Quality Reporting System and reduce facility data reporting burden. For further information please visit QualityNet at https://qualitynet.cms.gov/ or contact the QualityNet Help Desk at 1-866-288-8912, Monday – Friday (7 a.m. – 7 p.m. CT).

CDC Request for Information on Vaccine Breakthrough Cases

COVID-19 vaccines are effective and a critical tool to bring the pandemic under control. However, a small number of cases will still occur in fully vaccinated people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working to characterize end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients on maintenance dialysis who are diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infections after being fully vaccinated. We invite the kidney community to contribute to these efforts. CDC is requesting healthcare providers who work with patients with ESRD on maintenance dialysis to report SARS-CoV-2 infections that meet the following criteria: 

  • Patients with ESRD on maintenance dialysis (hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis) with a laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection diagnosed by PCR, other NAAT, or antigen who are >14 days from receipt of the second COVID-19 vaccination of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine, or >14 days from receipt of the first COVID-19 vaccination of a one-single dose COVID-19 vaccine.

If you have any cases to report, please email CDC’s Dialysis Coalition email box dialysiscoalition@cdc.gov using the subject line: “Breakthrough cases”. Include in your email:

  • Your first and last name
  • Facility name
  • Phone number 

Please do not include any patient names or personal identifiers. 

Thank you,
CDC Dialysis Safety Team
Email: dialysiscoalition@cdc.gov

Archive?

I wonder if we could keep announcements on the website for a set period of time (perhaps 1 month) and then archive them in case people want to look back on a piece of information?

Contact us! If you have a piece of medical news you think the nephrology community should be aware of, please send to info@aspneph.org.