| Take Charge of Your Healthcare with
My Health™ |  |
AAKP My Health™ now offers new features to help users take charge of their health care. Users can now:
· Receive appointment reminders by email
· Print emergency contact cards AAKP My Health™ is a free, unique section of the AAKP website, www.aakp.org, that provides you with online tools to be the leader in your healthcare. With AAKP My Health™, you can:
· Track your lab results
· Log your medications
· List your healthcare team members
· Prepare information for doctor visits
· Test your kidney knowledge
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| Infection-related Hospitalizations Frequent in Older Dialysis Patients |  Infection-related hospitalizations are frequent in dialysis patients older than 65, according to a study published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases. Many of these infections are unrelated to dialysis access. The study used data from the US Renal Data System and included 119,858 patients, 7,401 of whom were on peritoneal dialysis therapy, ages 65-100 years. During the follow-up, infection-related diagnoses were observed in approximately 35 percent of all hospitalizations. Approximately 50 percent of patients had at least one infection-related hospitalization. Risk factors for infection included older age, female sex, diabetes, heart failure, pulmonary disease, and low serum albumin level. |
| Patients on Hemodialysis Have a Higher Risk of Developing Walking Disabilities |
Patients on hemodialysis have a higher risk of developing walking disabilities and may require additional nutrition intervention in order to maintain their health. Researchers were able to conclude that patients on hemodialysis develop a walking disability about 4.5 years after starting dialysis. Also, in this patient population, serum albumin levels have a clear tendency to decline within 6 months from the time of diagnosis. As a result of this decline, the nutritional status of these patients must be monitored closely and may require additional nutrition intervention. The researchers also noted that the development of walking disability might be a useful marker for identifying patients at risk for worsening in serum albumin levels.
For the study, the investigators evaluated the medical records of patients that were treated at the University of Chicago Medical Center's dialysis facility. Of the 740 subjects, 20 percent had documented walking disabilities. A walking disability was defined as the use of a cane, walker or wheelchair. After the diagnosis of walking disabilities, serum albumin levels trended in a downward fashion. There were no differences in albumin levels when patients were divided by sex or age at the time of walking disability diagnosis, nor when they were analyzed in terms of facility or type of access to dialysis. |
| American Association of Kidney Patients Names New Executive Director | |
 AAKP has appointed Karen E. Ryals as its new Executive Director. Ms. Ryals was selected following an extensive and thorough executive search. Prior to joining AAKP, Ms. Ryals worked for the United Cerebral Palsy of Tampa Bay, Inc. D.B.A. Achieve Tampa Bay, where she had many roles, including Chief Executive Office, Executive Director and Director of Program Services & Consulting.
"The American Association of Kidney Patients has a history of meeting the needs of our nation's kidney patients and their families, enriching their lives through education and advocacy," said Ryals. "I am honored to have been chosen to lead this organization which has contributed so much to the nation's chronically ill people, and to have the opportunity to take it to new levels in patient services and community outreach."
Ms. Ryals hold a bachelor's degree in Speech Pathology & Audiology from the University of Florida and a Master's degree in Speech Language Pathology from Florida State University. She's also served as an Executive Committee Member of the Children's Cancer Center in Tampa, Leadership Tampa, and the St. Joseph's Hospital Quality Review Board.
To speak with Ms. Ryals or for more information about the American Association of Kidney Patients, please call (800) 749-2257 or visit www.aakp.org.
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| Washington State Approves Medical Marijuana for Chronic Kidney Failure | | Washington state has added chronic kidney failure to the list of conditions for which medical marijuana is permitted under state law. In approving chronic kidney failure, the state Medical Quality Assurance Commission said it was convinced that nausea caused by dialysis could be helped by marijuana. But it noted that using marijuana could also jeopardize a renal-failure patient's eligibility for transplant or have other adverse effects and that patients need to be informed of that when a provider authorizes them to use marijuana legally. The petition was brought by Kenneth Lachman, a dialysis patient. |
| New Law Could Help Hospice Patients Continue Aggressive Medical Treatments | |
 The dilemma - that you must give up aggressive treatment to get end-of-life counseling and care - is a major reason many people resist entering hospice, sometimes until just days before they die. But the new health law could lead to a major change in Medicare policy that allows patients to get treatment and hospice care simultaneously. Experts say this dual approach, known as "concurrent care," may be especially useful for people using dialysis to extend their lives, and those waiting for organ transplants that may not come in time. More broadly, advocates say, the change may encourage people with any kind of terminal illness to take advantage of hospice care earlier.
The new law instructs Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor, to cover simultaneous hospice and curative care for children with terminal illnesses immediately. And it directs the federal Medicare program, which covers seniors and disabled people, to launch up to 15 pilot projects around the country to test the concept. If the experiment is deemed successful and doesn't increase costs, then Medicare could make the benefit available to everyone in hospice. Someone with heart disease, for example, could get cardiac drugs that improve blood circulation and at the same time receive hospice's palliative services. Those include a team of doctors and nurses devoted to easing physical pain and symptoms, and social workers and clergy who help patients and their families accept death. Hospice staff typically come to a dying person's house or nursing home a few times a week. |
| Medicare Advantage Premiums Fall | | The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that, on average, Medicare Advantage premiums will be 1 percent lower in 2011 than today. The majority of Medicare beneficiaries, on average, enrolled in Medicare health and prescription drug plans this year should find little or no change in their benefits in 2011, in addition to seeing more drug plans offering coverage in the prescription drug coverage gap or "donut hole." Medicare Advantage plans project that enrollment will increase by 5 percent in 2011. And, consistent with the Affordable Care Act, beneficiaries, in most Medicare Advantage plans and Original Medicare, will gain access to preventive benefits with no out of pocket costs.
CMS is encouraging beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug plans to review their current health and drug plan coverage for any changes their plans may be making for 2010 before the annual enrollment period begins November 15. In addition to the 5-Star ratings on the Medicare Plan Finder at www.Medicare.gov, users will find an icon that shows those plans that had a low overall quality rating the past three years.
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