Members of GAKP have been instrumental in proposing and supporting legislation to benefit kidney patients going back to 1987. In that year the Georgia legislature passed HB 1348, a law intended to regulate the practice of reusing disposable kidney dialysis filters (dialyzers). At that time there were no federal standards for safe dialyzer reuse, and many unsafe practices were taking place and patients were being forced to reuse or get treatment elsewhere. HB 1348 defined the decision whether or not to reuse a dialyzer as one belonging to the doctor and patient, with the dialysis provider not a party to the decision. Since the law was passed studies have been published documenting the health risks of dialyzer reuse, and several of the dialysis provider companies have discontinued their reuse programs.

  In 2000 GAKP members were instrumental in passing HB 646. This legislation requires state licensing of dialysis facilities in Georgia and authorizes the Georgia Department of Human Resources to write rules and regulations to protect the health and safety of dialysis patients. The law went into effect in December, 2001. Our members pushed the legislation in response to many complaints from patients concerning poorly trained and unprofessional dialysis technicians, and infrequent inspections of dialysis facilities. The rules for Georgia dialysis clinics are posted at http://www2.state.ga.us/Departments/DHR/ORS/. At the site choose “current rules and regulations,” then choose “health care programs,” then choose “end stage renal disease clinics.”

 If you would like to read the reuse and licensure laws, you may look them up in the Official Code of Georgia which can be found at the Georgia Legislature Website. You will have a choice of searching for laws by subject or by code number. We recommend you search by code number. The code number for the reuse law is 31-16-7. The code number for the licensure law is 31-44-1.

 If you have questions about the rules for Georgia dialysis clinics, or about the legislation we have supported for kidney patients, please contact GAKP.

 Representative Buddy Childers, D – Rome, has been a strong advocate for kidney patients for many years, and he sponsored both the reuse and the licensure laws discussed above. HB 1348, the reuse law, was a landmark piece of legislation because in it Buddy recognized early on that medical decisions should be left to doctors and not case managers, HMO’s, and corporations. When Buddy passed the licensure law, he recognized the need for state regulation of dialysis facilities nearly a year in advance of a report from the United States Office of Inspector General recommending that states take a bigger role in oversight of dialysis facilities. Buddy has also served the needs of kidney patients through his position as chair of the Anatomical Gift Advisory Board, a board that works to promote the procurement of organs and tissue that are so desperately needed by organ transplant patients. From this position and his position as Chairman of the House Health and Ecology Committee, he passed legislation creating a position on the board for a transplant patient. He also passed legislation that allowed all Georgians to pay only $8.00 for a driver's license if they choose to be an organ donor, but this provision was removed in 2003 by governor Sonny Perdue. The drivers license discount legislation encouraged citizens to become organ donors thus helping to reduce the shortage of donated organs. Kidney patients in the state of Georgia have no greater ally than Representative Buddy Childers, and that is why we have made him an honorary board member of GAKP.