End Stage Renal Disease Economics and the Balance of Treatment Modalities

Abstract

Periodically, research articles emerge arguing the economic benefits of peritoneal dialysis, or PD, over the traditional in-center hemo dialysis for patients suffering from End Stage Renal Disease. Resulting conclusions indentify PD as the ideal therapy to reduce Medicare expenditures for this expensive treatment. However, despite this possible economic benefit to the United States taxpayer, the number of PD patients remains relatively flat with an increasing amount of patients being prescribed in-center hemo dialysis. A simplistic view of controlling the rising costs, on a per treatment basis, associated with the treatment of this disease would be to increase the number of patients from in-center hemo dialysis to peritoneal dialysis. This paper will argue why this shift is both unlikely and unrealistic, and why the resulting potential cost savings to this segment of the Medicare program is a myth.