Life At DaVita-Many of You Will Find This Interesting...

[NDXUFan]

I am glad to hear that some of the Nurses are doing well. It is important for the dialysis consumer that the Nursing staff is well compensated. For me, as Economics individual, excellent compensation makes for a much more positive experience for the dialysis consumer. It does not make me mad that someone makes a good living, no problem. However, on my posts in the past, I have wrote about my experiences at Davita, from dialysis consumers and members of the Nursing staff. In fact, most of the negative comments have been from Nurses who have worked for Davita. I have had a number of Nurses tell me that DaVita scared them to death, they were scared for the patients. For me, I am in the Home Program and I have never been frightened. In fact, there are some outstanding Nurses in our program. I think patients that attack Nursing staff should be thrown out the door. The Nursing staff is much more patient about that than I would be, that nonsense should not be tolerated and Vice-Versa. This issue is about insurance. I realize and know that the Nursing staff does not have anything to do with insurance and most do not want to be bothered by insurance issues. I was told that when my COBRA insurance ran out after 29 months, as mandated by law, that Davita would obtain Secondary Coverage for me, for what Medicare did not cover, great. When the time came for them to pay for the insurance, they told me that the American Kidney Fund would not pay any premium over $500.00 per month. I called the Kidney Fund and they said they would pay any claim that was submitted. The end of the long story is that I called the Chief Social Worker for the Metro area and basically, she told me that that the stockholders of Davita were more important. In addition, I waited while Davita promised Extended Treatments to me with NxStage for 4 1/2 years, they never delivered on their promises. I raised that issue with the Chief Social Worker and she said, "The Stockholders are more important." My premium was going to $525.00 per month, what did they think the cost would be for a dialysis patient? Basically, in a nutshell, Davita was the one that would not submit an insurance claim over $500, because they did not want to pay anymore into the Kidney Fund. All of this after, I paid Davita 30 months of private health insurance. Well, it is time to call DCI or Liberty, I am thru with these people. I was happy to pay $25.00 per month, yet, that was not good enough. Davita is throwing people into the streets. Where do they think that dialysis consumers are going to get this kind of money? What in the name of God was Kent Thiry thinking? I was told that this decision reaches the top at Davita.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

And dialysis should be free because? What about getting a job?

The sesnse of entitlement is something I find difficult. Many of my pts work full time, have private, read commercial insurance, and pay their bills just like the rest of us. And these are in center hemo pts.

Dialysis, especially home dialysis is meant so that pts can have a semblance of a real life which for younger then 65 means you go to work.

Have you been reading the political info lately? Dialysis is on the chopping block.

[NDXUFan]

I never, ever said that dialysis should be free, where do you see that in my post? A job, you say? Let me tell you some things about me. When I worked as a police officer in a major metro area, I worked 750 hours of overtime in 5 months. I worked on the night shift for 18 years from 11p.m.-7a.m., how would you like to work the night shift for 18 years? In addition, I worked overtime, constantly. As an Undergrad, I worked 30 hours per week, while carrying 16 credit hours in Economics. In addition, while home from school in the Summertime, I worked two full-time jobs, equaling 80 hours per week. Quite honestly, I do not see how any of your patients work, in fact, most dialysis patients do not work, simply because they are not getting enough dialysis, it is simple as that. In addition, I started dialysis when I was 38 years old, I was an athlete, played football, basketball, wrestled heavyweight, threw the shot put, and played baseball. The first time, I started dialysis, I felt like I been hit by a freight train, so how do you think those older people feel? My Nephrologist(30 years of experience) told me that In-Center dialysis was not enough dialysis for me, so I switched to the Home program. The Human Kidneys work 168 hours per week. Do you really believe that 12 hours is enough, that is sheer arrogance, the Nephrology Department at UCLA would agree with me. If we had Nocturnal dialysis, this work issue would not be a problem. My home treatments are 5 1/2 hours, 5 days per week, for me to get enough dialysis. In case, you would like to stereotype, my body fat is normal, my three month sugar score was 6.2, my blood count was 12.5, cholesterol was 54 and I can easily bench over 300 pounds. I have met more than a few people in the dialysis industry who have a very serious entitlement issue. By the way, my calcium and potassium are too low, rather than too high. My RN Sister, who was Head Charge RN in surgery at one of the major research hospitals in this area, said the night shift was going to ruin my health. Many Endocrinologists believe that night shift is very, very bad for diabetics. I paid taxes for other people for years, do not talk to me about entitlements. I paid for others to have Medicare when I did not have any insurance. My father is very, very German, in other words, "Work Until You Drop." My Dad would be happy to work 24 hours per day. He said having a job while having to do those length of treatments, was not worth it. In fact, a very good friend of mine, who is an RN, who grew up dirt, dirt poor told me, she said assistance was made for people like me, she hated assistance more than you ever will. It is amazing how people who work in dialysis whine and complain about assistance. Yet, they do everything they can to keep people dependent, actions speak louder than words. How in the world can someone on Home Dialysis work, when anytime there is a problem, they have to come to the Home Clinic, during regular business hours? Do you know how many employers are going to tolerate that or how long do you think the dialysis patient will keep their job? Moreover, most employers try to get rid of dialysis patients, because of the insurance costs. File a lawsuit, you say??? Trying to prove that in court is very, very difficult to impossible. I am in a Tier I Law School, so you think people in law school are lazy? I am going to be working in day job when I graduate, I will not be killed by that crazy night shift. When I was employed and on Home Dialysis, I was never able to get enough sleep to avoid falling asleep at work. Someday, you might need someone like me to save your fanny from a malpractice lawsuit.

Dialysis on the chopping block? I have heard this type of whining and wailing for years. "Seniors are going to eat dog or cat food, children on the School lunch program are going to starve, on and on, and on.......... This type of thinking is simply garbage. Medicare is stuck in a 1965 time warp, this is not 1930's America. Unlike what Obama will tell you, we are not lined up at the Soup Kitchen. My Dad worked for John Kennedy and he said that Obama was filled with you know what.

Here is an article from The Wall Street Journal:

Medicare for a New Century

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703712504576244790420274226.html?KEYWORDS=Paul+Ryan

[NDXUFan]

By the way, how many of the people you treat will enjoy a nice retirement? Do they enjoy all of the nice conveniences that you enjoy? Do you really believe that Kent Thiry of Davita is worth $97 million in stock options? When I read that Davita has a Christian attitude, that was one of the best laughs I have had in years. Anytime, I checked out what Davita told me in regards to the Extended Treatments or anything else, I found it was not true.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

I think we are just going to have to agree to disagree.

I wish you the best.

[NDXUFan]

Thanks

[GeauxNursing]

5.5 hours? Wow. That's a long treatment. My clinic has a large home program. Is the Nxstage the one that decides how long your treatments are based on ongoing data, so it can stop whenever you are ready?

I'm not sure what the point is of your post, but I personally think KT and the shareholders are just greedy.

[caregiver1977]

And dialysis should be free because? What about getting a job?

The sesnse of entitlement is something I find difficult. Many of my pts work full time, have private, read commercial insurance, and pay their bills just like the rest of us. And these are in center hemo pts.

Dialysis, especially home dialysis is meant so that pts can have a semblance of a real life which for younger then 65 means you go to work.

Have you been reading the political info lately? Dialysis is on the chopping block.

I have every respect for you Trauma Nurse, I really do. I will never understand why so many people get so riled up about people receiving health care and other benefits when they do not get upset about multi-million dollar corporations paying no taxes and oil companies get breaks and assistance from the government.

I have only known one person as I know of on dialysis and she worked a full time job. That was probably because we were customer service reps for Cingular Wireless (now AT&T) and we sat around on the phone assisting customers to do that. Sometimes she was too tired for even that! Many people on government benefits are not people trying to beat the system; they are working poor. Do you want to knock the legs out from under people who are trying to make an honest living. Would you rather they sell drugs or rob banks to pay for their health care?

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

As I stated to the original poster, I will just have to agree to disagree on this.

The whole point of dialysis is to provide a quality of life that allows for normal social interaction and a normal life. In the US, that means that usually people hold jobs. There are many chronic diseases and in none of the other disease processes is it expected that the pts will quit work and be considered "disabled."

[caregiver1977]

I can respect that, even though I totally disagree.

Another point that the OP was correct about is the schedule for dialysis patients. Maybe an employer will put up with it if the patient already has a job, but finding a new job that goes around the schedule of dialysis and how tired one is after is not easy. In this economy if you don't put "open availability" on your application for many employers you might as well not apply.

But I bet we could agree on this. I am all for routing out Medicare/Medicaid/Disability FRAUD! Don't punish the people who truly need help to punish the criminals. That would save millions upon millions! Doctors would be in hot water if a real crack down on fraud happened.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

I do agree about the fraud. Certainly many of my pts cant work due to their illnesses.

My that are able to work, for the most part dialyze on third shift which starts anywhere from 3pm to 6 pm. I have several pts that work nites and then come in to dialyze in the morning, sleep and then go home to bed.

[amazeRN]

As I stated to the original poster, I will just have to agree to disagree on this.

The whole point of dialysis is to provide a quality of life that allows for normal social interaction and a normal life. In the US, that means that usually people hold jobs. There are many chronic diseases and in none of the other disease processes is it expected that the pts will quit work and be considered "disabled."

Very true. It is what you make it. The individual has to have the belief they can do this, they can still live their life and do dialysis. They don't have to let it take them over and let the disease be what labels them. CKD is a very sad disease and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone but the ones who have a PMA (positive mental attitude) tend to be healthier and do more i.e. still work. It is possible!