WASHINGTON, DC — Today, the Dialysis Vascular Access Coalition (DVAC) is urging policymakers not to forget about the  560,000 dialysis patients across the United States as COVID-19 cases hamper local hospitals. 

 DVAC is focused on keeping Vascular Access Centers open for patients so they can receive a highly specialized, gold-standard of care offered by the centers. Due to the health care consolidation trend, many Vascular Access Centers have been forced to close, leaving patients with no other option than to receive under-specialized care in a hospital. 

When hospitals are overwhelmed it impacts dialysis patients. Additionally, data shows that when patients receive vascular access care in a hospital, it’s inferior to what a VAC can provide and increases the infection rate and therefore complications. Data shows that high-quality vascular access care at VACs is critical to keeping dialysis patients from encountering needless complications in the hospital. 

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Dr. Gregg Miller, DVAC Health Policy Chair, said, “It’s a simple equation: keeping VACs open means better patient outcomes and more protection for dialysis patients. DVAC believes that the COVID-19 hospital surges underscore the need for office-based providers to remain viable. Policymakers must find ways to provide dialysis patients with safe, community based healthcare services and away from hospital admissions, as they are a particularly vulnerable population.”