-- The Case for Daily Hemodialysis at Home as Public Health Issue -- BALTIMORE, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- A unique series of town hall meetings scheduled nationwide will launch tomorrow, October 4 in Baltimore to address the public health and economic concerns facing kidney disease and dialysis treatment in the United States including: -- Limitations of current dialysis treatment in the United States for the 337,000 people who require it to live. -- America's 23% mortality rate associated with kidney failure -- the highest in the world among industrialized nations. -- Escalating costs associated with treating the growing number of kidney patients in the United States and the impact on Medicare and Social Security and society at-large. -- The need to adopt daily hemodialysis at home as an alternative therapy to conventional thrice-weekly hemodialysis to improve patients' quality of health and life and in turn, help reduce the total healthcare costs to treat them. The town hall meetings will be moderated by Rod Kenley, founder of Aksys, Ltd., a leader in medical device technology in the renal industry. He will facilitate discussion with an expert healthcare panel composed of leading nephrologists, nurses, social workers, policymakers and patients to discuss their experience and views. The Baltimore town hall meeting will take place at Sheppard Pratt Health Systems Conference Center, 6501 North Charles Street from 5:30-7:00 PM. The general public is invited to attend and participate in an open forum following discussion to help shape public policy. Dialysis Overview Today, the majority of dialysis patients receive hemodialysis treatment at a clinic three times a week. According to many clinicians and thought leaders in the nephrology field, this thrice weekly therapy does not do an effective job of simulating proper kidney function since waste products are allowed to build up in the body before being removed. As a result, this intermittent treatment has produced relatively poor outcomes, a decreased quality of life for patients and an escalation in the cost of patient care. "Daily home hemodialysis offers the best opportunity, short of a kidney transplant, to improve the unacceptably poor survival and quality of life of patients with end-stage kidney disease," said John Anderson, MD, Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Staff Nephrologist, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Economic Impact Economically, the cost of kidney failure is staggering -- about $30 billion annually, most of which is borne by Medicare. In 2002, Medicare spent $17 billion on treating dialysis patients, representing 6.7 percent of the entire Medicare budget for a patient population that comprises only 0.5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries. According to David Dranove, PhD, Professor of Healthcare Economics at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, if 20 percent of dialysis patients were to switch to daily hemodialysis and half of them returned to work: -- Medicare cost burden would decrease $2 billion a year. -- U.S. medical spending would decrease $600 million a year. -- Productivity would increase $500 million a year. -- Social security & other income subsidies would decrease $120 million a year. About Aksys, Ltd. The town hall meeting series is sponsored by Aksys, Ltd., which produces hemodialysis products and services for patients suffering from kidney failure. In March 2005, Aksys was presented with the Frost & Sullivan Medical Devices Award for demonstrating innovation in the dialysis treatment market and helping to improve the quality of life for end-stage renal disease patients. In selecting Aksys for the award, Frost & Sullivan named the Aksys Personal Hemodialysis System the "Enabling Technology of the Year." Further information is available at: http://www.aksys.com/ . DATASOURCE: Aksys, Ltd. CONTACT: Kimberly Rawn of Aksys, Ltd., +1-312-391-5690, ; or Allison Bozarth of The Dalton Agency, +1-904-398-5222, Web site: http://www.aksys.com/

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