DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 14, 2012-- DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA), a leading provider of kidney care services that is committed to improving the quality of life for those diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD), today announced its 2011 End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Quality Incentive Program (QIP) results from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

DaVita® outperformed the industry with 75 percent of the company’s clinics ranking in the top clinical performance tier, versus 71 percent for the rest of the industry.

“Helping our patients live longer and enjoy a better quality of life is our constant focus at DaVita,” said Dr. Allen R. Nissenson, DaVita’s chief medical officer. “Our QIP results demonstrate that our holistic, comprehensive care approach works."

QIP is part of Medicare’s ESRD quality incentive aimed at improving the quality of care provided to patients. It was designed in part to be the nation's first pay-for-performance quality incentive program mandated through a series of reforms passed into law in 2008. CMS describes QIP as a “first-of-its-kind program (that) provides the ESRD community with the opportunity to enhance the overall quality of care that ESRD patients receive as they battle this devastating disease.”1

“DaVita and the industry are working with CMS to improve quality for our patients in several aspects,” said DaVita Group Vice President LeAnne Zumwalt. “We look forward to partnering with CMS on the development and implementation of the expanded QIP in 2014 and beyond.”

QIP takes two clinical areas into account. The first is anemia management, and the second is Urea Reduction Ratio (URR).

URR determines how effectively a dialysis treatment removes waste from the body and is commonly noted as a percentage. While there is no fixed percentage to represent “adequate dialysis,” studies have shown that patients with a URR of 65 percent or greater are less likely to suffer from adverse symptoms including nausea, and loss of appetite. Patients with 65 or greater also have fewer hospitalizations and live longer. At the end of 2011, DaVita reported that only 2.7 percent of its patients – an all-time low – are below the 65 percent baseline.

In 2014, additional measures will be added, including percentage of patients receiving treatment through an arteriovenous fistula or catheter.

Since the inception of DaVita’s CathAwayTM program, DaVita has driven a 30 percent reduction in traditional catheter use (i.e., those patients who have been dialyzing at DaVita for 90 days or more using a catheter for dialysis access). DaVita patients were at an all-time low catheter rate of 15.6 percent near the end of 2011.

DaVita results also showed a nearly 20 percent reduction in gross mortality rates since 2001, representing thousands of lives saved.

DaVita has a holistic approach to kidney care that is patient-centric and considers various aspects of the quality of treatment. As a result, for 11 consecutive years DaVita patients have demonstrated improved annual clinical results in several critical areas, including survival rates, bone and mineral metabolism management, dialysis adequacy and preventative care such as immunizations.

DaVita and CathAway are trademarks or registered trademark of DaVita Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

About DaVita

DaVita Inc., a Fortune 500® company, is a leading provider of kidney care in the United States, delivering dialysis services to patients with chronic kidney failure and end stage renal disease. DaVitastrives to improve patients’ quality of life by innovating clinical care, and by offering integrated treatment plans, personalized care teams and convenient health-management services. As ofSeptember 30, 2011, DaVita operated or provided administrative services at 1,777 dialysis facilities, serving approximately 138,000 patients. DaVita supports numerous programs dedicated to creating positive, sustainable change in communities around the world. The company’s leadership development initiatives and social responsibility efforts have been recognized by Fortune, Modern Healthcare, Newsweek and WorldBlu. For more information, please visit http://www.davita.com.

1 http://www.cms.gov/esrdqualityimproveinit/01_overview.asp

Source: DaVita

DaVita
Lauren Moughon, 303-405-2094
Mobile: 206-724-3826
Lauren.Moughon@DaVita.com