October 3, 2008
Advance Release of New CMS Interpretive Guidelines

Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Releases Advance Copy –End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Program Interpretive Guidelines Version 1.1 (Interim Final Version 1.1) to All State Survey Agency Directors-effective immediately

• Read an extract of the tags related to Vascular Access Monitoring


• Read the full document (opens in a new window)

If you already have Vasc-Alert, you're covered!
If not, find out how we can get you into compliance quickly and economically!

Vasc-Alert provides proactive surveillance of hemodialysis patients' access sites by evaluating the intra-access pressures. The program analyzes the hemodialysis machine blood flow and pressure data to determine the intra-access pressure. When it determines that the patient's access site may be at risk, it issues an alert report.

Vasc-Alert uses readily available dialysis data- therefore no additional staff time is required. An analysis is performed for each dialysis session and trends established for each patient. This unique trending can indicate when a patient's pressure is increasing. An Alert is provided once increased pressure is detected for 3 consecutive treatments (KDOQI guidelines).

• Quick links
  (Note: all links open a new window)
  Click here to download a 4-page overview paper on Vasc-Alert (PDF format).
  
  Click here to see a sample Patient Detail report (PDF format).
  This report shows results for an individual patient over a 6 month period. This report can also be viewed on line through our secure web interface.
  
  Click here to see a sample alert list.
  This report comes out on a weekly basis and highlights the patients with alerts since the previous report.
  
  Click here to see a sample monthly report (PDF format). This report summarizes information on all patients at a center.
  



• The new KDOQI Guidelines are out!
  Click here to download a summary of the new KDOQI Guidelines for surveillance and monitoring (PDF format).


• View the 2005 ASN Poster
  The Vasc-Alert developers presented a poster entitled Vascular Access Surveillance Reduces Vascular Access Thrombosis Rates (VATR) at the 2005 ASN meetings. You can view this poster online, or download the PDF version.


• Read about the Vasc-Alert solution in AJKD
  The developers of Vasc-Alert have published an article in the October 2002 issue of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases (Volume 40, Number 4). Click to read the abstract. You can read the full version or download a PDF copy if you register with AJKD online.

Vasc-Alert was developed at Henry Ford Health Systems by Dr. Jerry Yee, Stan Frinak, and Gerard Zasuwa. Patents pending.