(thread) @KidneyPatients has a live stream up from yesterday. Here Elena Balovlenkov RN, MS, CHN @CMSGov asks for more patient engagement and asks how does CMS reach the large majority of patients who do not access CMS info eg Dialysis Facility Compare
First, why does CMS speak of patients? I am not a CMS patient, I am a CMS beneficiary. As Balovlenkov says CMS is an insurance company (not a provider). CMS is also the rule setter and enforcer. CMS is our care overseer, a rung above the provider
Thus my answer: connect with us as beneficiaries not to tell us how we could be doing more - exercise, selfcare, HHD - rather to know who we are as individual. My treatment goals, my measure of health, how I am. AND take some ownership of the results, for the answers
CMS wants to connect with us through the frame of our care, in our role as a patient with each of our providers, that's not enough. Instead connect with us through the frame of you are our care Overseer, the bill Payer, the one who calls the tune - embrace your role
CMS hold yourself accountable for our sense of health, for our quality of life. If you think we should be doing better then ask: what more could CMS do to help? Use your agency. Think more of your beneficiaries should be be using home dialysis? Start by looking to yourself.
Are CMS policies limiting access to better outcomes? How could CMS change their payment structure to support better results? (see thirteen payment/month baked into allowed reimbursement) Would lower Part B premiums for certain engagement/action make a difference? #TrueP4P
CMS move beyond averages. Judge how your beneficiaries are doing and take responsibility for their answers. Don't focus on how providers are doing on average (across the unit census). Focus on how individuals are doing and make that your problem and you will get the engagement.
