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An end-stage renal disease facility (ESRD facility, dialysis facility, or dialysis center) is a medical facility that operates to assist people with irreversible loss of kidney function (stage five), requiring a regular course of dialysis or a kidney transplant to survive. The facility may operate independently, as part of a hospital-based unit, or as a self-care unit that furnishes only self-dialysis services.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) describes four types of ESRD facilities, including the renal transplantation center, for ESRD transplant patients; the renal dialysis center, a hospital unit for ESRD dialysis patients; a renal dialysis facility, a direct or stand-alone dialysis unit for ESRD patients; and a self-dialysis unit attached to one of the previous three, providing self-dialysis services. Patients undergoing dialysis at these facilities require two important documentation steps: the patient assessment and the patient plan of care. U.S. Federal regulation requires a comprehensive 13-point assessment, including current health status, laboratory profile, and nutritional status. (Full article...)

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