Patients at for-profit dialysis centers less likely to get kidney transplants

The likelihood that U.S. patients with renal failure will get a kidney transplant is lower for those who get dialysis at for-profit dialysis centers, a new study shows.
In examining the records of more than a million dialysis patients, researchers found that compared to patients getting dialysis at nonprofit facilities, patients treated at for-profit dialysis centers were less likely to make it onto a kidney transplant list and less likely to receive a new kidney from either a living or a deceased donor.
The implication is that for-profit facilities may be biased toward keeping patients on dialysis.
“In a 17-year-long study we found that U.S. patients with end-stage kidney disease who receive dialysis in for profit facilities have lower access to kidney transplantation compared to patients who receive care in non-profit dialysis facilities,” said study coauthor Rachel Patzer, an associate professor and director of health services research in the department of surgery & department of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. “The current system has no financial incentive for dialysis providers to educate, to spend time with and to refer patients for transplant.”-- READ MORE