DENVER, Oct. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- DaVita Kidney Care, a division of DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. (NYSE: DVA), the leading independent provider of integrated health and kidney care services in the United States, today announced that for the second year in a row, it has been recognized as the clinical leader among dialysis providers by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), in its just released Five-Star Rating System.

According to the latest government ratings, DaVita Kidney Care operates the highest percentage of four-and five-star centers among all major dialysis providers by nearly two times.    

"Five-Star ratings are about providing transparency for patients to make informed decisions on where to receive the highest quality care," said Javier Rodriguez, CEO for DaVita Kidney Care. "I am honored that DaVita is being recognized by the government as the clinical leader. I want to thank our clinical professionals for their commitment to excellence."

Within the CMS' Five-Star Rating System, each dialysis center that provides in-center hemodialysis (excluding centers in hospital settings) receives a rating between one and five based on clinical performance and patient outcomes. Ratings can be found on the Dialysis Facility Compare website.

Data is collected and analyzed from seven quality measures:

• Standardized Transfusion Ratio (STrR)
• Standardized Mortality Ratio (SMR)
• Standardized Hospitalization Ratio (SHR)
• Percentage of adult hemodialysis (HD) patients who had enough waste removed from their blood during dialysis
• Percentage of adult dialysis patients who had hypercalcemia
• Percentage of adult dialysis patients who received treatment through arteriovenous fistula
• Percentage of adult patients who had a catheter left in vein longer than 90 days for their regular hemodialysis treatment

In the other key government quality measure, Medicare's Quality Incentive Program, released in January of each year, DaVita Kidney Care outperformed other major dialysis providers with over 98 percent of the company's centers ranking in the top clinical performance tier compared to an average of 93 percent for the rest of the industry.

In 2013, DaVita Kidney Care developed the Patient-Focused Quality Pyramid to help provide direction for improving patient care and outcomes. The Pyramid focuses on the fundamentals of dialysis care – dialysis access, blood-level monitoring, dialysis adequacy, target weight and parathyroid hormone – and next-generation clinical initiatives that focus on fluid reduction, diabetes management, medication management and infection reduction.

• FluidWise^® – Our FluidWise program focuses on educating our physicians, patients and teammates on the importance of fluid management, sodium intake and weight management. Early efforts at fluid management have led to greater than a 10 percentage point decrease in interdialytic weight gain.
• Step Ahead^TM – This program helps coordinate care for dialysis patients who have diabetes, which is a leading cause of kidney disease.
• MedsMatter^TM – MedsMatter, DaVita's medication management program, focuses on completing timely and effective home medication reviews as well as providing tools and services to reduce medication-related patient hospitalization.
• WipeOut Infection^TM – The Wipeout Infection program aims to lower the risk of infection for dialysis patients by educating physicians, teammates and patients on the importance of habits and procedures to prevent infections. DaVita's vaccination campaign, as part of the WipeOut Program, led to a 92 percent patient influenza vaccination rate.

To learn more about DaVita Kidney Care's commitment to quality, visit DaVita.com/Five-Star.

About DaVita Kidney Care
DaVita Kidney Care is a division of DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc., a Fortune 500® company that, through its operating divisions, provides a variety of health care services to patient populations throughout the United States and abroad. A leading provider of dialysis services in the United States, DaVita Kidney Care treats patients with chronic kidney failure and end stage renal disease. DaVita Kidney Care strives 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 of June 30, 2015, DaVita Kidney Care operated or provided administrative services at 2,210 outpatient dialysis centers located in the United States serving approximately 176,000 patients. The company also operated 96 outpatient dialysis centers located in 10 countries outside the United States. DaVita Kidney Care 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 DaVita.com.

Contact Information
Media:
David Gilles
(303) 876-7497
david.gilles@davita.com

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140318/DC85712LOGO

SOURCE DaVita Kidney Care