Renal Care Foundation organises round table on peritoneal dialysis and its inclusion in health insurance cover

Renal Care Foundation held a round table discussion around ‘Rational and cost effective management of chronic renal failure payer & payee perspective’ on Thursday, July 18, 2013. The forum aimed at giving an opportunity to recognise the need for inclusion of peritoneal dialysis in health insurance cover.

The healthcare fraternity chose to address the issue via constructive dialogue at the conference. Present on the occasion were esteemed panelist Dr Dinesh Khullar, Sr Consultant, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Dr Gokulnath, HOD, Nephrology, St John’s Hospital, Bangalore and CH Asrani, Sr Physician & Claims Consultant. The spokespersons extended their views on the need for inclusion of peritoneal dialysis (PD) in the health insurance cover and how peritoneal dialysis is a better means of treatment for patients suffering with kidney failure in India.

On the occasion Dr Khullar said, “Peritoneal dialysis is a fast growing treatment of choice for End Stage Renal Dialysis (ESRD) patients. Several studies report that patients on peritoneal dialysis, the most common type of home dialysis, are more satisfied with their care and experience a reduced impact of kidney disease on their lives compared to patients receiving in-center haemodialysis. In addition, home dialysis is cost-effective, associated with continued employment and can offer more flexibility and time for family and social activities. Recent studies also indicate that more than 75 per cent of dialysis patients are eligible to choose either a home or centre dialysis modality.

PD is even more relevant in India given the geographical expanse, the lack of social (electricity, water treatment, sewage management, personal hygiene) and medical infrastructure (trained nephrologists, dialysis nurse, technician etc.) It is pleasing to see that PD has grown rapidly in India in the last five years from 1800 patients to more than 7000 patients till date with a continuous ambulatory PD (CAPD) penetration of about 17 per cent in India. The inclusion of the treatment under policy cover will allow patients to gain better quality of living.”

Dr Gokulnath said, “In India, it has been recently estimated that the age-adjusted incidence rate of ESRD is 229 per million population (pmp), and more than 100,000 new patients enter renal replacement programmes annually. The prevalence of CKD is observed to be 17.2 per cent with six per cent CKD on stage three or more. It is an urgent need to stress to all primary care physicians taking care of hypertensive and diabetic patients to screen them for early kidney damage. On the other hand, planning for the preventive health policies and allocation of more resources for the treatment of CKD/ESRD patients are imperative in India. As peritoneal dialysis is a growing and better cost-effective treatment in India, its inclusion in the health insurance cover is utmost crucial as it will benefit both the patients in reimbursing their expenditure and the health insurance companies to save more than expected revenue.”

Talking from the perspective of health insurance companies, Dr Asrani said, “This is an extremely constructive dialogue and insurance companies can help influence health policies by inclusion of treatment options in their plans and offerings. Chronic ailments do get expensive and it will be encouraging for both doctors and patients to opt for them if the burden is eased. Peritoneal dialysis should be a part of all health covers as lifestyle ailments are on the increase and insurance companies should be able to provision packages that help better quality of life to its customers.”

The peritoneal dialysis health insurance roundtable created awareness about the benefits of the treatment over haemodialysis and its cost-effective aspect for the common people, the forum also helped to sensitise the health insurance companies about the need to encompass peritoneal dialysis and many such chronic disease treatments in the health insurance cover.