End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Stakeholders Meeting
March 25, 2004
Baltimore, Maryland
Meeting Materials

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) sponsored the ESRD Stakeholders Meeting held on Thursday, March 25, 2004, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland. Approximately 150 people attended, representing renal professional organizations, kidney patient advocacy organizations, the ESRD Networks, state survey agencies, a variety of dialysis organizations, and the federal government.

The meeting included presentations on the results of the Dialysis Facility Compare (DFC) website evaluation and the current efforts to develop an ESRD CAHPS®*, or patient experience of care survey. Many valuable comments were received on both projects, and the comments will be carefully considered as these projects progress.

*CAHPS stands for Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Survey. However, all CMS patient experience of care surveys for various providers are known by the CAHPS® trademark name.

AGENDA

Strategies Today for Higher Quality Tomorrow
   Brady Augustine, MS
   Senior ESRD Executive
   Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Dialysis Facility Compare Website Evaluation
   Michael Trisolini, Ph.D., MBA
   Research Triangle Institute
   Project Lead

CAHPS®: Information from the Consumer Perspective
   Liz Goldstein, Ph.D.
   Director of the Beneficiary Education and Analysis Group
   Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Groundwork for ESRD CAHPS®: The Feasibility Report
   Beth Kosiak, Ph.D.
   Senior Social Science Researcher
   Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
   ESRD CAHPS Lead

Development of the ESRD Survey
   Patricia Gallagher, Ph.D.
   Center for Survey Research
   University of Mass. Boston
   CAHPS® Harvard Team

Cognitive Testing: Process and Results
   Roger Levine, Ph.D.
   American Institutes for Research
   CAHPS® AIR Team

ESRD CAHPS Field Test
   Beverly Weidmer, M.A.
   RAND Corporation
   CAHPS® RAND Team

Additional reports include:

ESRD CAHPS Feasibility Report

CMS Response

Final Report of the Evaluation of the Dialysis Facility Compare

CMS has set up an email box to receive comments on the ESRD CAHPS project. The address is: ESRDCAHPS@cms.hhs.gov.