Summary
Published Date: May 13, 2019
Between 1996 and 2016, the number of people receiving dialysis in the United States increased by 4.3% annually. Dialysis is expensive, but typical cost analyses focus on Medicare and ignore the contributions of commercial insurers. The national dialysis market is controlled by two for-profit organizations, one of which — DaVita — operates 37% of the market. Because this company generates revenues almost exclusively from dialysis and itemizes revenues by payer, we are able to assess differences in payments from government and commercial insurers to dialysis clinics through analysis of this company’s financial records.