NYC Health + Hospitals Announces New On-Site Hemodialysis Treatment for Post-Acute Care Facility Residents
With the new on-site services, the City's public health system will now offer residents hemodialysis treatments for end stage kidney disease On-site hemodialysis treatments will be initiated in June at NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler, and at Carter, Gouverneur, McKinney, and Seaview by fall 2020
Jun 15, 2020
NYC Health + Hospitals today announced the availability of new on-site hemodialysis treatments for residents of the health system’s five post-acute care facilities who require the service and would like to receive treatments in their residence. Hemodialysis is a procedure where a dialysis machine and a special filter are used to clean a patient’s blood. With the new on-site services, the City’s public health system can now provide hemodialysis treatments for end stage kidney disease at the residential facility. Prior to offering these services on-site at NYC Health + Hospitals’ post-acute care facilities, hemodialysis patients were required to travel to other facilities for these treatments multiple times a week, becoming disruptive to the resident’s routine and contributing to higher exposure to infections. Having the services on-site provides a number of benefits to residents, including gentler dialysis sessions that help improve patients’ quality of life. Approximately 30 long-term residents will benefit from the on-site dialysis treatment. The on-site hemodialysis treatments will be initiated in June at NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler, and at Carter, Gouverneur, McKinney, and Seaview by fall 2020.
“NYC Health + Hospitals continues to make smart investments to ensure that our patients and residents have access to high-quality, comprehensive, and convenient care,” said Senior Vice President of Post-Acute Care at NYC Health + Hospitals Maureen E. McClusky, MA, LNHA, FACHE. “We are confident that this new way of delivering dialysis to our residents will improve their quality of life and overall experience at our facilities.”
“This is truly a blessing for people like me that have to get up at 3AM to go to an outside dialysis center,” said a resident at NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler. “I will be able to get more rest and will improve my quality of life. I thank those from the bottom of my heart that helped make this happen.”
NYC Health + Hospitals’ post-acute care facilities will each have a designated room, referred to as a den, configured with a maximum of four dialysis chairs. Some facilities will have multiple dens to accommodate a higher volume of residents that require the hemodialysis treatments. Every patient receiving the treatment will have a uniquely assigned dialysis machine for their exclusive use and be assigned a dialysis time of their preference. Up to eight residents a day can be accommodated in each home dialysis den.
Following New York State Department of Health regulation, the hemodialysis service at NYC Health + Hospitals will be provided by Dialyze Direct, the nation’s largest provider of staff-assisted home hemodialysis in nursing homes.
According to United States Renal Data System (USRDS), in the United States, end stage kidney disease affects nearly 800,000 people, and is more prevalent among populations served by NYC Health + Hospitals. For example, USRD estimates that Hispanics are up to 2 times more likely of having end stage kidney disease than non-Hispanic populations. Approximately 550,000 people in America receive dialysis as life sustaining therapy, and the vast majority of these receive hemodialysis.