ProPublica's Mike Webb explains about Kidney Care Partners

Greetings,

Today, ProPublica obtained talking points prepared by the dialysis industry in response to our just-published dialysis investigation. In preparation for the joint ProPublica / The Atlantic investigation, the umbrella group Kidney Care Partners (KCP), an advocacy and lobbing organization for dialysis providers, drew up a plan to spin the story before it reached the public.

Without having read the story, KCP explains that they, "feel it's essential to create the 'machinery' necessary to orchestrate an aggressive and prompt community-wide response."  Read the complete talking points package on our site.

The story has also had immediate impact with the federal government.  As mentioned in an Editor's Note from Paul Steiger and Stephen Engelberg of ProPublica, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Studies (CMS) released extensive data that it has been keeping secret about the quality of care at America's dialysis treatment facilities.  After years of prodding and the filing of a Freedom of Information request by reporter/editor Robin Fields, CMS finally made the data available (but unfortunately after press time).  Steiger and Engelberg write, "We plan to make it available on our website as soon as possible in a form that will allow patients to compare local dialysis centers."

The editor and managing editor add, "Our reporting found many reasons for the flaws in the dialysis system. Patients are disproportionately drawn from the ranks of the disadvantaged and have not effectively lobbied for improvements. The American approach to kidney disease, with uninsured patients receiving haphazard care until they qualify for dialysis, means U.S. patients are often sicker when their disease is treated....But the release of the government's previously undisclosed data marks a new chapter. For the first time, dialysis centers will face the full force of transparency. At ProPublica, we seek to publish stories that have impact. This one has had an effect even before it appeared."

Read all of our dialysis reporting at www.propublica.org/dialysis.  We hope you will share this information with your readers.  Thanks.

Best,

Mike Webb
ProPublica