Daily hemodialysis: Challenges and opportunities in the delivery and financing of end-stage renal disease patient care

Daily/home hemodialysis is the latest technologic advance in the care of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients, and promises improved clinical outcomes and quality of life. Should these benfits prove to be true, an increasing number of patients will be interested in this modality of care, raising challenges and opportunities for providers of care and payers, as well as patients themselves. For patients to have access to this and other new forms of technology to treat ESRD, it will be necessary to re-examine the current care delivery and financing systems and reconfigure these so that the incentives of best clinical practice and outcomes are properly aligned with appropriate and sensible cost constraint. (C) 2001 by the National Kidney Foundation, Inc.