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.
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.
Pecoits-Filho
Roberto
R
Participants in the Roundtable Discussion on the Economics of Dialysis and Chronic Kidney Disease in Latin America. r.pecoits@pucpr.br
Campos
Camilo
C
Cerdas-Calderon
Manuel
M
Fortes
Paulo
P
Jarpa
Cecilia
C
Just
Paul
P
Luconi
Paulo
P
Lugon
Jocemir R
JR
Pacheco
Alejandro
A
Paniagua
Ramon
R
Rodriguez
Konniev
K
Sanabria
Mauricio
M
Sciaraffia
Vito
V
Velasco
Carlos
C
De Arteaga
Javier
J
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*