This level of integration forms an integral part of a patient’s care - reducing the amount of time providers spend on:
Most routine clinical laboratories do not offer this level of integration. They also do not reflect ESRD specific reference ranges and alert values which are very different from the general population. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) billing rules, regulations and reporting requirements for ESRD reimbursement are complex usually requiring custom accounting programs to ensure compliance. Standard clinical laboratory billing and reimbursement accounting programs usually do not accommodate these unique billing regulations. ESRD patients are chronically ill patients with a high mortality rate (23% annually) requiring continuous monitoring, complex trend analysis and historical results review. Recognizing trends in test results are vital to clinical decision making and administration of a variety of medications such as erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESA), iron supplementation for anemia or Vitamin D for bone disease management. Monthly blood draws are routine, in the unstable patient weekly draws are not uncommon. Most routine clinical laboratories do not offer this level of anaylsis. In addition, an ESRD specific laboratory offers:
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