Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA ("the Company") today announced that the Portuguese Ministry of Health and Anadial, the national association of privately run dialysis centers, agreed on a new reimbursement model for ambulatory care to hemodialysis patients. The new model "Comprehensive Price Payment" is an integrated and quality-driven approach that bundles a variety of dialysis related services and products. That requires the implementation and functioning of an integrated disease management model in order to achieve, simultaneously, health benefits, quality improvement and system rationalization. Including the new additional services in this reimbursement model, the Company expects the reimbursement rate to increase by about 50%.
The "Comprehensive Price Payment" model will include all necessary dialysis services, the deployment of dialysis-related products, laboratory services and other complementary medical tests and the administration of renal drugs for anemia management, bone management, blood pressure and cardiovascular control as well as vitamins.
The new reimbursement structure will provide for payment of a national reimbursement rate per week per patient. The main characteristic is that the amount of this reimbursement will directly depend on the fulfillment of certain treatment results and quality control parameters with the dialysis services provided. The therapeutic goals include, among others, the adequacy of dialysis, targets for hemoglobin levels, bone metabolism status, water quality as well as outcome measures such as mortality rate and hospitalization days. These goals mirror the good practices guidelines, both national and international, for dialysis care to patients, which will serve as support for contractual monitoring. The establishment of auditing, information, monitoring, attendance and evaluation mechanisms is a pre-requisite for a participating dialysis provider.
Furthermore, the Portuguese Ministry of Health and Anadial agreed to continuously develop studies that will examine the inclusion of other modalities and treatment components such as the construction and maintenance of vascular access, hospitalization and patient transport into the comprehensive price payment.
The Company aims to fully adapt its dialysis care model to the new reimbursement structure for hemodialysis patients within its own network as of March 1, 2008.
Fresenius Medical Care Portugal is the largest private dialysis provider with annual revenues of approximately $128 million in 2007 for patient care and dialysis products. At the end of 2007, the Company provided dialysis treatment for about 4,100 patients in 33 dialysis clinics. According to internal estimates about 1,300 patients per one million population need renal replacement therapy in the form of dialysis or transplantation for survival. The number of dialysis patients is expected to increase by about 4% annually.
Ben Lipps, Chief Executive Officer of Fresenius Medical Care, commented: "Portugal is the first European country opting for a bundled reimbursement model in dialysis. The introduction of a bundled rate for the treatment of hemodialysis patients in Portugal equally benefits all those involved: the quality of life of dialysis patients can be significantly improved, health care spending for social systems and insurers remains controllable and dialysis companies gain the freedom to manage their cost structure while maximizing patient services. With our fully vertically integrated business model that includes patient care and dialysis products, Fresenius Medical Care is very well positioned to be the partner-of-choice to tackle the future challenges with growing patient numbers and – at the same time – financial burdens to social systems that derive from a disease like chronic renal failure."
The "Comprehensive Price Payment" model will include all necessary dialysis services, the deployment of dialysis-related products, laboratory services and other complementary medical tests and the administration of renal drugs for anemia management, bone management, blood pressure and cardiovascular control as well as vitamins.
The new reimbursement structure will provide for payment of a national reimbursement rate per week per patient. The main characteristic is that the amount of this reimbursement will directly depend on the fulfillment of certain treatment results and quality control parameters with the dialysis services provided. The therapeutic goals include, among others, the adequacy of dialysis, targets for hemoglobin levels, bone metabolism status, water quality as well as outcome measures such as mortality rate and hospitalization days. These goals mirror the good practices guidelines, both national and international, for dialysis care to patients, which will serve as support for contractual monitoring. The establishment of auditing, information, monitoring, attendance and evaluation mechanisms is a pre-requisite for a participating dialysis provider.
Furthermore, the Portuguese Ministry of Health and Anadial agreed to continuously develop studies that will examine the inclusion of other modalities and treatment components such as the construction and maintenance of vascular access, hospitalization and patient transport into the comprehensive price payment.
The Company aims to fully adapt its dialysis care model to the new reimbursement structure for hemodialysis patients within its own network as of March 1, 2008.
Fresenius Medical Care Portugal is the largest private dialysis provider with annual revenues of approximately $128 million in 2007 for patient care and dialysis products. At the end of 2007, the Company provided dialysis treatment for about 4,100 patients in 33 dialysis clinics. According to internal estimates about 1,300 patients per one million population need renal replacement therapy in the form of dialysis or transplantation for survival. The number of dialysis patients is expected to increase by about 4% annually.
Ben Lipps, Chief Executive Officer of Fresenius Medical Care, commented: "Portugal is the first European country opting for a bundled reimbursement model in dialysis. The introduction of a bundled rate for the treatment of hemodialysis patients in Portugal equally benefits all those involved: the quality of life of dialysis patients can be significantly improved, health care spending for social systems and insurers remains controllable and dialysis companies gain the freedom to manage their cost structure while maximizing patient services. With our fully vertically integrated business model that includes patient care and dialysis products, Fresenius Medical Care is very well positioned to be the partner-of-choice to tackle the future challenges with growing patient numbers and – at the same time – financial burdens to social systems that derive from a disease like chronic renal failure."
