For Immediate Release

December 10, 2007 | WASHINGTON, D.C.

Kidney Patients’ Health Is Jeopardized by Proposed Medicare Changes 

New Report on the Medicare End Stage Renal Disease Program Recommends Policy Changes and Urges Focus on Innovation, Prevention, and Awareness 

“Everybody knows that the U.S. healthcare system is inadequate. We are here to remind the nation that it is also unfair,” said Gary A. Puckrein, PhD, at a press conference today in Washington. “The system continues to treat the White majority in this country as the norm while it neglects the rest of the population in every aspect of health care, from research through end-of-life care.”

The press conference — entitled “The Healthcare Quality Crisis in America: A 21st Century Civil Rights Priority!” — featured a blue-ribbon panel of speakers, including Mohammad Akhter, MD, MPH1; Hon. Donna M. Christensen2; Rev. Tyrone Crider3; Gerald DeVaughn, MD4; Rev. Jesse Jackson5; Elizabeth Ofili, MD, MPH6; Rev. Al Sharpton7; Rev. Charles Steele, Jr.8, Hilary O. Shelton9; and Richard Allen Williams, MD10.

“We are free, but not equal,” said Rev. Jackson. “The struggle to increase life options continues. Without equality in healthcare, we will continue to have high infant mortality, short life expectancy, and great health disparities.”

Read Full Press Release Here

About The Forum

The National Minority Quality Forum (NMQF) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, non-partisan, independent research and education organization. The vision of NMQF is a health services research, delivery and financing system that provides quality and effective health services to the biodiverse American general population of the 21st century. NMQF helps assure that national and local quality improvement initiatives are informed by scientific evidence, and place a priority on the quality of care and patient outcomes in all populations.

Media Contact

Gretchen C. Wartman, VP Policy and Program

gwartman@nmqf.org | 202.223.7560