McGaw Park, IL, August 9, 2002 – RMS Lifeline, an affiliate of Baxter Healthcare Corporation, announced today that is has signed agreements with five medical practices to provide management services for dedicated end-stage renal disease (ESRD) dialysis access centers. The agreements are with:
RMS Lifeline manages the largest network of dedicated access centers that are specifically designed to address the unique access-related needs of ESRD patients, such as ensuring optimal blood flow for dialysis treatments.
With the signing of these agreements, RMS Lifeline now manages thirteen centers throughout the United States. The other centers are located in Baltimore, Birmingham, Cincinnati, Detroit (2 centers), Phoenix, San Diego, Riverside, Calif., and Tyler, Texas.
Through the RMS Lifeline program, nephrologists, radiologists, and vascular surgeons provide focused vascular access care for the ESRD patient. This contributes to fewer missed dialysis treatments and superior outcomes, such as a reduction in medical complications and improved patient care and satisfaction, as well as lower costs to the health-care system.(1)
Vascular access-related problems are the primary reason for hospitalization of ESRD patients. A nephrologist-led access care program coupled with a vascular access center can improve vascular access outcomes.(2) Twenty to twenty-five percent of all ESRD costs result from vascular access issues.(3)
More than 300,000 people in the United States, or just over one in 1,000 Americans, are being treated for ESRD, which occurs when the kidneys lose function. More than 80 percent are undergoing hemodialysis, which requires vascular access for the treatments. During hemodialysis, blood is removed from the body through a needle inserted into a blood vessel, which is the vascular access point. The blood is then pumped through a machine containing a filtering system that cleans the blood and returns it back to the body.
RMS Lifeline is committed to assisting medical practices deliver improved clinical outcomes and quality of life for patients through optimized vascular access care.
Baxter Healthcare Corporation is the principal domestic operating subsidiary of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX), a global health care company that, through its subsidiaries, provides critical therapies for people with life-threatening conditions. Baxter's bioscience, medication delivery and renal products and services are used to treat patients with some of the most challenging medical conditions, including cancer, hemophilia, immune deficiencies, infectious diseases, kidney disease and trauma.
1 Source: RMS Lifeline Managed Centers. Experience from 12,554 procedures in 5 dedicated dialysis access centers from 2000
through 2001.
2 www.rmslifeline.com/in_the_news/articles/1001-1.htm
3 Source: U.S. Renal Data System, USRDS 2001 Annual Data Report: Atlas of End-Stage Renal Disease in the United States,
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, MD, 2001. The data reported here have been supplied by the united States Renal Data System (USRDS). The interpretation and reporting of these data are the responsibility of the author(s) and in no way should be seen as an official policy or interpretation of the U.S. government.