title: Policies and health care financing issues for dialysis in Latin America: extracts from the roundtable discussion on the economics of dialysis and chronic kidney disease.
abstract: During the 2008 Congress of the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis, academic nephrologists, nephrology societies, and government officials from Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Central America, Ecuador, and Mexico participated in a roundtable discussion on the Economics of Dialysis and Chronic Kidney Disease in Latin America. The main focus was policy and health care financing. The roundtable promoted open discussion between policymakers and clinicians on how to find viable solutions to contain spending on treatment for end-stage renal disease into the future. A number of options were proposed, including early medical intervention (disease management programs) to slow the progression of chronic kidney disease in high-risk patients, promotion of pre-emptive renal transplantation, and use of the most cost-effective dialysis therapy that can be offered to a patient without compromising outcome. It was concluded that the burden of treating more patients in the future could be alleviated by wider utilization of peritoneal dialysis (PD). However, important changes in health care reimbursement systems and realignment of incentives in the region are required to support wider PD penetration.
authors.affiliation: Participants in the Roundtable Discussion on the Economics of Dialysis and Chronic Kidney Disease in Latin America. r.pecoits@pucpr.br
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pecoits-Filho
authors.forename: Camilo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cerdas-Calderon
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fortes
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jarpa
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Just
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Luconi
authors.forename: Jocemir R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Lugon
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pacheco
authors.forename: Ramon
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Paniagua
authors.forename: Konniev
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sanabria
authors.forename: Vito
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sciaraffia
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Velasco
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: De Arteaga
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics*; D006291:Health Policy / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000191:economics / Q000628:therapy*; D007843:Latin America; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000191:economics*