News

A report released by The Kidney Foundation of Canada shows that a significant proportion of Canadians undergoing dialysis treatment experience financial hardship as a result of the extra costs associated with kidney disease. Increased costs are mainly due to transportation to dialysis treatment and medication.
In addition to the emotional and physical strain that often accompanies kidney failure, a financial burden exists that Canadian patients bear. This burden has been ignored for too long. Through an increasing number of applications to its emergency short-term financial assistance program and discussions with social workers, The Kidney Foundation of Canada became aware of increasing financial need. It was evident that further investigation was needed; a patient survey was launched to gather more data. The Kidney Foundation of Canada released its Burden of Out-of-Pocket Costs for Canadians with Kidney Failure report today, making it clear that the financial hardships associated with dialysis are significant.
 
“As anticipated, we found there are gaps and inconsistencies for people on dialysis across Canada,” says Elizabeth Myles, National Executive Director of The Kidney Foundation of Canada. “To help address this, The Kidney Foundation of Canada is calling on governments to act on our recommendations to address the financial burden of kidney failure experienced by Canadians and their families.”
 
The Kidney Foundation of Canada makes the following recommendations to all levels of government to address the financial burden of kidney failure:

1. Subsidize transportation costs and expand access to travel grants, particularly for people in rural areas.
2. Minimize disparities in accessing medications for people with kidney disease and develop mechanisms to offset costs equitably across jurisdictions.
3. Provide adequate support for home dialysis through reimbursing utility costs and considering the financial and health literacy of patients when operationalizing “home first” policies.

"The Canadian Association of Nephrology Social Workers (CANSW) was privileged to partner with The Kidney Foundation of Canada in administering the survey of dialysis patients," says CANSW president, Michelle Jensen. "Our members are passionate about this research and fully endorse the recommended actions."
 
The Kidney Foundation of Canada provides an emergency short-term financial assistance program to help bridge the gap for patients who may need to apply for subsidy programs or find alternative solutions as they consider treatment options.
 
About the Burden of Out-of-Pocket Costs for Canadians with Kidney Failure survey (header 2)
The Kidney Foundation of Canada, in association with Dr. Scott Klarenbach, Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Alberta, conducted the Burden of Out-of-Pocket Costs for Canadians with Kidney Failure survey in 2016 to obtain data that would provide evidence of the economic burden associated with dialysis, as well as how this might impact patients and the care they receive.  The survey was conducted online and via paper-based surveys administered by CANSW members in over 20 centres and was available in English, French and Chinese.
 
Visit our Financial Burden of Kidney Disease page section to read the full report.

Download the full press release