DaVita Announces Partnership with Fresenius Medical Care

DENVER— DaVita  announced an agreement to provide certain pharmacy services to Fresenius Medical Care (FMC).

FMC, a leading provider of dialysis services and maker of dialysis products, will use DaVita Rx prescription drug services for its Medicare patients in the United States.

Congress required that beginning in 2011, some oral medications will be included in the bundled payment model. By 2016 all oral end-stage renal disease (ESRD) medications will be included in the bundled payment. FMC’s contract with DaVita Rx will help implement that requirement by using DaVita Rx’s state-of–the-art pharmacy to fill and ship oral medications to FMC Medicare patients. DaVita Rx service for FMC will begin in late 2013.

“Fresenius Medical Care is committed to providing the best and most efficient care for renal patients,” said Ronald Kuerbitz, chief executive officer of Fresenius Medical Care North America. “The effectiveness and efficiency of our renal pharmacy management program is critical to meeting that commitment, by helping dialysis patients and physicians coordinate the dietary, pharmacy and dialysis components of their therapy, wherever they are. By accessing DaVita’s substantial investment in pharmacy capabilities, we can more efficiently use our resources to enhance other elements of our network and advance best practices in renal care.”

DaVita Rx is the first and largest full-service pharmacy created specifically for the unique needs of kidney patients. By delivering not only all renal-related medications, but also all other prescribed medications to patients’ homes or dialysis centers, DaVita Rx helps patients improve compliance with their required drug regimens, resulting in healthier patients and improved quality of life. DaVita Rx also partners with care providers to advocate for patients with insurance companies and has pharmacists trained in renal care available 24 hours per day, seven days per week. DaVita Rx has served the prescription drug needs of patients receiving dialysis from DaVita and other dialysis providers since 2005.

DaVita also announced as part of an unrelated transaction that it will be extending its long-standing vendor relationship with FMC for certain dialysis supplies including hemodialysis machines and disposable products.

“We are proud of our reputation for developing and supplying products that deliver the highest quality of therapy to patients,” said Kuerbitz. “We are pleased to continue our long relationship as a supplier to DaVita.”