Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, one of the largest unions of healthcare workers in the western part of the country, said Thursday it filed a statewide ballot initiative in California to improve safety at dialysis clinics and lower costs for dialysis patients.
The union hopes to accomplish this "by placing minimum safety requirements on the 570 dialysis clinics in the state and limiting the amount dialysis companies can charge patients." The proposed ballot initiative, the Kidney Dialysis Patient Protection Act, would be for the November 2018 election.
SEIU-UHW said the California Attorney General is expected to provide supporters with the initiative's title and summary by mid-October this year. The initiative would need nearly 366,000 signatures from registered voters in the state to make it on the ballot.
According to the Los Angeles Times, DaVita and Fresenius, which provide dialysis services, control roughly 70 percent of the U.S. market, and even more of the market in California. The report states the companies have faced scrutiny for their market share and high profits.
The union said its most recent ballot initiative comes as state lawmakers consider the proposed SB 349, The Dialysis Patient Safety Act. The related legislation includes minimum staffing ratios for nurses and technicians as well as an increase in California inspections of dialysis facilities, "and would require a 45-minute transition time between patients," reports LA Times. The Senate approved the legislation, but it is still under consideration by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
For more on this story, including arguments from opponents and proponents, read the full LA Times report here.