Dialysis Facility Quality Tied to Odds of Transplant Wait-Listing

FRIDAY, Oct. 1, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Higher-quality dialysis facilities are associated with higher odds of transplant wait-listing, according to a study published online Sept. 24 in JAMA Network Open.

Joel T. Adler, M.D., from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and colleagues assessed whether patient, facility, and kidney transplant wait-listing characteristics are associated with variations in dialysis center quality. The analysis included 2013 to 2018 adult data from the U.S. Renal Data System and Medicare Dialysis Facility Compare (DFC).

The researchers found that higher-quality dialysis facilities were associated with higher odds of transplant wait-listing (odds ratio, 1.47 for five-star facilities versus one-star facilities). Compared with White patients, Black patients were less likely to be wait-listed for transplantation (odds ratio, 0.74). Patients at for-profit (odds ratio, 0.78) and rural (odds ratio, 0.63) facilities also were less likely to be wait-listed for transplantation versus those treated at nonprofit and urban facilities, respectively.

“Waitlisting rates for kidney transplantation should be considered for integration into the current Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services DFC star ratings to incentivize dialysis facility referral to transplant centers, inform patient choice, and drive quality improvement by increasing transplant waitlisting rates,” the authors write.

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