Dialysis in Warm Destinations for Patients Traveling
Extensive Dialysis Network Gives Patients Numerous Travel Choices – Including Hawaii Vacation Spots
WALTHAM, Mass. – Jan. 28, 2014 – Dialysis patients looking to escape the cold or take advantage of snow-related recreation can choose from destinations that include a variety of popular U.S. vacation spots, where they can take in the sights while still receiving regular dialysis treatments.
Over the past several years, Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA), the nation’s leading network of dialysis facilities, has added more than 200 dialysis clinics to its nationwide network, largely through its 2012 purchase of Liberty Dialysis Holdings Inc. which included more than 70 dialysis facilities in Hawaii, California, Colorado, Nevada, Texas, and Utah.
Patients who receive blood-filtering dialysis treatments in a clinical setting need to visit a dialysis facility three times per week to remove waste products and excess fluids from their bodies after their kidneys have failed. Patients can schedule treatments at any of the company’s more than 2,150 facilities through FMCNA’s Patient Travel Service. Available to all dialysis patients at no cost, regardless of who is their primary dialysis provider, the service locates and schedules dialysis treatment for any patient traveling in the United States, Puerto Rico and abroad.
The FMCNA network allows patients to receive their life-sustaining treatments at or near popular tourism destinations such as:
Haleakala National Park, on Hawaii’s Maui island
The Golden Gate Bridge, in San Francisco
The Rio Grande River at Laredo, Texas
Zion National Park, at St. George, Utah
Lake Tahoe, at Carson City, Nev.
Shalita Simmons, FMCNA’s patient travel and customer service director, says that FMCNA’s Patient Travel Service is helping U.S. dialysis patients better understand their travel options. “Our patient education efforts have made both the staff and patients more aware of what we provide,” she says, adding: “We’ve made dialysis travel options easier which results in an improved quality of life for patients.”
It’s easy to book dialysis treatment at different FMCNA locations. Simply:
Contact the Patient Travel Service at least 14 days before departure (six weeks for international trips) to find the clinic closest to your destination and make an appointment. Call toll-free at: 1-866-434-2597 or complete the online placement request form at: http://www.ultracare-dialysis.com/FreseniusMedicalServices/PatientTravelServices.aspx.
Talk with your own dialysis care team to ensure you have enough medications for your trip.
The travel service also can help home dialysis patients arrange for dialysis supplies during their trip. For patients traveling by air, a letter of medical necessity may also be required to authorize them to carry their own treatment supplies.
FMCNA’s Patient Travel Service arranges tens of thousands of treatments each year for patients traveling in all parts of the country. It processed nearly 39,000 travel requests during 2012, up 22 percent from 2011. In 2013, the service processed more than 40,000 requests, with the most popular destinations being New York City and the New Jersey Shore; Las Vegas; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; and the Florida Panhandle.
For more information about the Patient Travel Service, patients or family members can call 1-866-4DIALYSIS (1-866-434-2597).
About Fresenius Medical Care North America
Through our leading network of more than 2,150 dialysis facilities in North America and our vascular access centers, laboratory, pharmacy and affiliated hospitals and nephrology practices, Fresenius Medical Care provides renal services to hundreds of thousands of people throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada. We are also the continent’s top producer of dialysis equipment, dialyzers and related disposable products and a major supplier of renal pharmaceuticals.
For more information about the company, visit www.fmcna.com