Nurse Practitioner / Physician Assistant Meeting to be held July 17 -18, 2008. As the demands to meet the needs of an ever growing population of kidney disease patients are increasing, advanced practice nurses and physician assistants are broadening their scope of practice into all areas of patient care. This program has been designed to address the needs of the practitioner, whether novice or experienced, to explore caring for inpatient kidney patients and the kidney transplant patient. Click here to find out more and to register.

What's New

May RPA News now available
Log into the members only section immediately to view/download.

RPA Board Approves Statement on Effective NP/PA Training Programs

RPA Urges Members to Promote KCP Community Petition

CMS Releases Final Rule on ESRD Conditions for Coverage;
RPA Analysis Log into the members only section immediately to view/download.

RPA Capitol Hill Day Scheduled for June 23rd.  RPA will be convening a Capitol Hill advocacy program on June 23rd to bring the nephrology perspective on Medicare payment cuts and other issues affecting nephrologists to Congress. Please plan to come to Washington that day to participate in this effort. More information on the RPA Capitol Hill Day can be viewed by clicking here.  To register for the Capitol Hill Day, click here.  To schedule a Capitol Hill visit, click here.

RPA joins the AMA and 112 other medical societies in a sign-on letter supporting S. 2785, the Save Medicare Now Act of 2008. The bill will address the Medicare physician payment cut scheduled for July 1, 2008. Please click here to view/download the letter.

RPA’s Health Policy Handbook for Nephrology Practitioners Available Online
RPA is pleased to provide The Health Policy Handbook for Nephrology Practitioners online. The handbook is designed to make public policy advocacy more accessible to nephrology practitioners and enable RPA members to take part in state and federal advocacy efforts affecting their practice. The handbook provides easy-to-use tips on such actions as calling, visiting, or writing to members of Congress and your state legislators, as well as working with Medicare program decision makers and contractors. RPA’s successful public policy advocacy is dependent on membership participation. RPA hopes the information provided in the Health Policy Handbook will help the membership become more engaged in our advocacy efforts. To access the Health Policy Handbook for Nephrology Practitioners online, please log in to members only.

RPA and AMA Conducting Physician Practice Information Survey

 For the first time in nearly a decade, the RPA, the American Medical Association (AMA), and more than 70 other health care professional organizations, have worked together to coordinate a comprehensive multi-specialty survey of America’s physician practices.  The survey will collect up-to-date characteristics of thousands of physician practices from virtually all specialties, and be used in efforts to positively influence national decision makers to ensure accurate and fair representation for all physicians and patients. Click here to read more.

RPA Updates Position Paper on Use of Clinical Care Algorithms or Pathways in Delivery of Quality Renal Patient Care
Members should log into the members only site to download.  
The paper can be ordered by clicking here.

New Medicare Billing Requirements for Anemia Therapies
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is implementing an expanded reporting requirement for all claims billing for administration of an ESA for non-dialysis patients. Click here for full details.

RPA Comments on CMS 2008 Medicare Fee Schedule Final Rule

Medicare PQRI Program Resources

To assist nephrologists and nephrology practices in deciding whether to participate in Medicare’s Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI), RPA has developed educational resources that provide general and nephrology specific background on the program.   For more information, click here.

RPA Submits Testimony to Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Hearing. 

RPA Information on Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit – Part D - Click here for more information.

Consult Letter Template - Click here to complete and download.

Click to view multimedia video on how to use the toolkit. (22 minutes)

Journal for Healthcare Quality Publishes Results of RPA CKD Toolkit Pilot Test. Read the article published in the November/December 2007 issue here.

Our Mission

RPA is a national medical specialty association with a membership comprised of physicians in the subspecialty area of nephrology and their practice managers. The organization's mission is: to promote optimal care utilizing the highest standards of medical practice for patients with renal and related diseases; to promote and protect the professional status of the discipline of nephrology and to serve as a resource for the development of national health policy affecting renal physicians and their patients.