DaVita HealthCare Partners Comments on Medicare Cuts for Dialysis Treatments, Provides 2014 Operating Guidance

DaVita HealthCare Partners

today commented on the final Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare ESRD rule for 2014 and announced initial 2014 operating income guidance. Final CMS Rule LeAnne Zumwalt, Group Vice President said, “On the dialysis rule, the bad news is that CMS appears to have accepted the premise that the language in the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 required it to make a partial rebasing of the bundle. This could unfairly result in cuts of nearly $30 per treatment over a three to four year period by looking only at pharmaceutical economics. This means that Medicare dialysis rates will be flat in 2014 and 2015 in an