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The Mid-Atlantic Renal Coalition maintains provider/facility as well as patient demographic information and tracks ESRD treatment changes for all patients treated in the Network 5 area (District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia).
Important Notice Regarding Collection of Race on the CMS-2728
The following instructions regarding the collection of patient race on the CMS-2728 form were recently provided by CMS in CROWN Memo 10-0508-GN:
Ethnicity and race shall be “self-reported” by the patient to be in conformance with current OMB standards. “Self-reported” is defined as the patient’s verbal or written confirmation of ethnicity and race. It is important to note that the current instructions on CMS Form 2728 do not specify that the information on ethnicity and race must be self-reported, and therefore it is likely that in
some cases the information is actually “provider-reported.”CMS instructs the ESRD Networks to educate the ESRD Medicare Provider community on how to correctly document patient ethnicity and race. Whenever possible, providers must document the patient’s self-reported ethnicity (field 8) and race (field 10) on the OMB 2728 Form. In the event that a patient or patient’s family member is unable to self-report their ethnicity and/or race, instruct providers to record this information on behalf of the patient, and acknowledge the absence of the patient’s self-reported ethnicity and race in the remarks area (field 53) by noting that “fields 8-10” were reported by _________.
With the roll-out of the CROWNWeb national release, the ESRD provider community will be required to document whether ethnicity and/or race was self-reported by the patient or by a patient’s family member and if the patient chose not to report their ethnicity and/or race.
Data Collection
MARC uses the Standard Information Management System (SIMS), developed under Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) contract by ESRD Network 6, to maintain facility demographic and patient-specific information. SIMS has been fully implemented by all Networks since the first quarter of 2000, and creates a common platform for data storage, allowing easier and more timely access to national data. Data for all national ESRD patients are stored at a central repository, housed in Baltimore, MD, that combines all Networks' data and is easily accessible through electronic retrieval. Data are collected from the following sources:
Dialysis Facilities and Transplant Centers
United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)
- Semi-Annual Facility Directory Update
- Transplant event and follow-up information
Data Reporting
Facility demographic information is stored and maintained in SIMS for use by the Networks and for listing on Medicare's Dialysis Facility Compare (DFC) website. Click here if you have changes to your facility's demographic or personnel information, or call us at 804.794.3757.
MARC also uses data collected to provide clinical and compliance reports to facilities, and to accomplish contract requirements as directed by CMS. Some common public reports include:
MARC Annual Report
Network 5 Zip Code Report
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