Trump’s kidney health executive order aimed at improving quality of care, Dr. Marc Siegel says
President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday that seeks to take “a bold new approach” toward bettering kidney health and available treatments.
Goals for the administration’s kidney health initiative were laid out in a White House news release and included, among other things, working to “prevent kidney failure through better diagnosis, treatment, and preventative care,” as well as boosting the “affordable alternative treatment options” available to patients.
Another aspect of Trump’s executive order involves possible changes to Medicare.
“Under the executive order, Medicare will test adjusting payment incentives to encourage preventative kidney care and the use of home dialysis and kidney transplants,” the White House said.
Fox News medical correspondent Dr. Marc Siegel weighed in on this point of the initiative, telling FOX Business that one out of five Medicare dollars is put toward kidney treatment.
Siegel also pointed out potential financial benefits, saying that the use of home dialysis and doubling the number of kidney transplants would offer a notable decrease in associated medical costs.
The executive order is aimed “to save on medical costs by improving efficiency and quality of care” Siegel said.
The Trump administration also placed an emphasis in its initiative on boosting kidney transplant availability by implementing changes in the transplant system and “counterproductive regulations,” according to the news release. The initiative is also focused on furthering the development of artificial kidneys.
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In May 2018, first lady Melania Trump was treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and underwent an embolization procedure to treat a benign kidney condition. The White House at the time said “the procedure was successful and there were no complications.”
Fox News’ Matt Leach and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.