Last week, we updated our Dialysis Facility Tracker with the latest data about the quality of care at dialysis centers around the country. As is the hope when we release nationwide data, several local news outlets used our information to cover their local centers in more detail.
Scan through the list below for articles from your area. We’ll be updating this list as more coverage comes in.
CALIFORNIA:
Dialysis website enables patients to compare safety records of clinics, San Jose Mercury News
Some Bay Area dialysis facilities had death rates for the first year of treatment that were 49 to 80 percent worse than expected; others had rates 40 percent better than expected.
Website offers consumer-friendly information on dialysis centers, San Bernardino County Sun
COLORADO:
Dialysis patients have access to facility data using new tools, The Denver Post
Two of 61 dialysis centers in Colorado reported mortality rates significantly higher than expected.
In Colorado, about 3,800 patients that need dialysis, and on average about 1 in 5 dies from serious complications.
CONNECTICUT:
Kidney dialysis patients more likely to survive in Connecticut, New Haven Register
Only one of the state’s 40 clinics shows worse-than-expected mortality rates.
ILLINOIS:
Dialysis Danger: Why Location Matters for Some Kidney Patients, NBC Chicago
Fresenius, a company that owns several dialysis clinics in the area, faced a lawsuit after a patient died at one of its facilities. The company eventually came to a seven-figure settlement with the patient's family, but admitted no wrongdoing.
MICHIGAN:
Oakland dialysis care above average, The Oakland Press
Lists the dialysis adequacy rate for the 20 centers in the Pontiac area.
MINNESOTA:
Data released April 17 shows performance of Minnesota’s dialysis centers, St. Cloud Times
Minnesota’s dialysis centers, as a whole, ranked seventh best in the country during 2010 for having a low average mortality rate compared to the federal government’s expected rate.
Data show how dialysis centers rank, Pioneer Press
When it came to emergency room visits and hospitalizations, Minnesota “didn’t fare so well.” Davita in Northeast Minneapolis had one of the worst score in the country for the rate of observed-to-expected ER visits.
PENNSYLVANIA:
Report shines positive light on York County dialysis options, The York Daily Record
TEXAS:
ProPublica tracking website has dialysis insight, El Paso Times
Dr. Alfonso Chavez, a local nephrologist, expects to see more dialysis patients in the area due to a “disproportionate number of people in El Paso with diabetes and hypertension, which contribute to kidney disease.”
Dialysis Data Shines Light on Clinic Disparities, NBC 5 Dallas – Fort Worth
Three North Texas clinics ranked as some of the worst facilities in the state when it comes to patient death rate compared to expected rate. An international chain called Fresenius runs two of those three sites.
WASHINGTON D.C.:
Dialysis Center Ratings, NBC 4 Washington
Of the more than 160 dialysis facilities in the greater Washington area, 16 percent did “worse than expected” when it came to mortality rates. In particular, the News4 I-Team highlighted the Advanced Dialysis Center – Potomac, a dialysis facility in Arlington, Va., where 78 percent of patients died over a three-year period. Overall, the facility had 153 percent more deaths than the federal government’s “expected mortality rate,” easily making it one of the worst in the area.
