04/05/08 - Supporters vow to continue work on dialysis reimbursements

April 5, 2008
Patrick Howington
The Courier-Journal

A bill setting minimum insurance reimbursements for Kentucky kidney dialysis centers that aren't in an insurer's network failed to pass this year, but supporters said the issue isn't dead.

"We're not going to go away," said Rep. Susan Westrom, D-Lexington, who sponsored House Bill 433.

The measure was proposed by dialysis companies because health insurers have sharply reduced the amounts they pay to centers that haven't signed a contract to join a carrier's network.

Insurers said they did that because many centers were avoiding price negotiations by remaining outside networks -- thereby getting paid up to twice as much as in-network centers.

Some patients became caught up in the brewing dispute last year when insurers told them they should no longer get treatments at non-network centers. That raised concerns that patients in rural areas might have to travel long distances for care.

Matt Bassett, a spokesman for dialysis providers, said the industry isn't let down that the bill didn't pass.

He said providers are encouraged by the attention the issue received in lengthy legislative hearings. The

House passed the bill 83-12, but it didn't reach the Senate floor.

"From the kidney-care community's perspective, it was a great session -- a tremendous bipartisan vote (on) a very complicated issue," said Bassett, a vice president of DaVita, the nation's second-largest dialysis firm.

"We will continue to educate (legislators) over the summer," he said. Bassett said he expects the measure to be reintroduced next year, "and we're certainly looking for passage then."

House Bill 433 was supported by the American Diabetes Association, and dozens of button-wearing kidney patients from around the state trooped to Frankfort to show support in legislative hearings.

The bill was opposed by the insurance industry and the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce because it could cause premiums to rise. Some legislators expressed misgivings about putting the General Assembly in the middle of a rate dispute.

Westrom said she doesn't know if she will reintroduce the bill, but she said she does plan to hold future legislative hearings about broader insurance practices, such as slow payments to health-care providers.