STAT June 30, 2024
A few years ago, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launched a big experiment. The agency wanted to see if financial incentives and penalties would improve care for people with end-stage kidney disease. So far, it hasn’t worked, a new study finds.
The End-Stage Renal Disease Treatment Choices (ETC) model is a historic effort, both because it’s the largest such experiment in the history of American health care and because, unlike previous CMS Innovation Center pilot programs, it’s mandatory. About 30% of dialysis providers in the country participate, while the other 70% are used as a control group. It’s shaped like...