Good time to write Congress - and sample letter

[cschwab]

The Atlantic-Propublica expose still has me fired up, so I decided to write my federal reps (I may start on my state reps too!).  I got to thinking it would be a good idea to put together a sample letter and share some of what I wrote - and I've included a link to the service I used to write our reps:

Sample letter:
*********************************************************
<representative>

Recently the national investigative news agency Propublica did an expose on the kidney dialysis field of medicine.  I not only think you should read this, I think you should ACT!!!!

Propublica expose:    http://www.propublica.org/topic/diagnosing-dialysis

Here are at least two things this field of medicine could use NOW:

1) Minimum treatment times:
"In Japan and Germany, one of the pay for performance targets for dialysis is that 85% of dialyzors must be getting at least 4 hours of treatment 3x/week (this would translate to 2 hours x 6 days a week). I think that would be an excellent goal worth working toward here, particularly in light of the DOPPS (Dialysis Outcomes & Practice Patterns Study) data among 22,000 or so dialyzors that found a 30% drop in the risk of death for folks who got at LEAST 4 hours of treatment. IMHO, there is no excuse for anyone to be getting less than this, regardless of body size. It is not possible to get too much dialysis (though it is possible to remove too much water and leave people feeling wretched--this is actually quite common)."
http://forums.homedialysis.org/showthread.php/2667-Dialysis-Industry-May-Expand-as-Study-Sways-Medicare

2) Proper staff-to-patient ratios:
"Its (Dialysis Clinic Inc. - a nonprofit) clinics also were staffed differently, with more nurses relative to patient-care technicians, who are unlicensed and, typically, lower paid."

http://www.propublica.org/article/new-study-shows-higher-mortality-risk-at-in-for-profit-dialysis-chains


Thank you for your time,
<your name>

**********************************************

Link for writing reps (enter zip code to the right):
http://www.congress.org/

[cschwab]

You can also help journalists around the country by sharing your stories and experiences at Propublica:

http://www.propublica.org/article/dialysis-inform-our-investigations

Tis the season for sharing!

[cschwab]

Wanted to wish everybody a Happy New Year!


(even supplied a couple of new year resolutions from the above posts)