Dialysis Reports, State and Region Profiles

The following Reports are created under contract to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide dialysis facilities, patients, state surveyors, and/or regions with valuable information on patient characteristics, treatment patterns, hospitalization, mortality, and transplantation patterns in their facilities. 

  • The Quarterly Dialysis Facility Care Compare (QDFCC) Preview Reports provide Networks and Facilities with advance notice of new and updated quality measures for their facility prior to being displayed on Dialysis Facility Compare. These measures are updated quarterly in January, April, July, and October of each year. 
  • The Dialysis Facility Reports (DFRs) are provided as a resource for characterizing selected aspects of clinical experience at this facility relative to other caregivers in this state, End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Network, and across the United States. Since these data could be useful in quality improvement and assurance activities, each state’s surveying agency may utilize the DFRs as a resource during their survey and certification process. Measures included in the DFRs are updated annually and available to dialysis facilities to review and submit comments prior to their release to State Survey Agencies and Regional Offices in September of each year.
  • The State and Region Profiles provide state surveyors with a comparative summary of treatment patterns and patient outcomes for ESRD patients in each state and region, as compared to all patients in the United States. State Profiles are provided as a complement for making decisions regarding which facilities to survey during the upcoming year. Measures included in the Profiles are updated annually in September of each year.
  • The Quarterly Updates of the Dialysis Facility Reports (QDFRs) for State Surveyors provide more recent results of select measures from the DFRs in December, March, and June of each year. These reports are utilized by each state surveyor’s agency as a resource during the survey and certification process. Measures included in the QDFRs are available to dialysis facilities in November, February, and May of each year to review and submit comments prior to their release to State Survey Agencies and Regional Offices. 

What information is included in the DFRs and DFCC Reports?

Both DFR and DFCC reports include information about directly actionable practice patterns such as dose of dialysis, vascular access, and anemia management, as well as patient outcomes (such as mortality, hospitalization, and transplantation) that can be used to inform and motivate reviews of practices.   The information in the report facilitates comparisons of facility patient characteristics, treatment patterns, and outcomes to local and national averages.   Such comparisons help to evaluate patient outcomes and to account for important differences in the patient mix - including age, sex, race, and patients’ diabetic status - which in turn enhances each facility’s understanding of the clinical experience relative to other facilities in the state, Network, and nation. A sample of each report may be downloaded from the DFR and DFCC Methodology sections of this web site.

In addition, State and Region Profiles include maps and tables comparing state or region information as well as the Dialysis Facility Reports for every facility in the state or region with facility comments appended. 

Who has access?

For each report, only authorized users can access the facility reports by logging in to the secure site. Dialysis facilities are encouraged to submit comments during the comment period on the secure site if they have questions or concerns regarding their reports.    

  • The QDFCC reports are provided to facilities and ESRD Networks quarterly. 
  • Dialysis Facility Reports (DFRs) and Quarterly Updates of the DFRs for State Surveyors are provided to facilities, ESRD Networks, State Survey Agencies, and Regional Offices annually and quarterly, respectively.
  • The State and Region Dialysis Profiles are available only to the corresponding State Survey Agency or CMS Regional Office

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