Mercy Dialysis Center recognized for high-quality patient care

Mercy Dialysis Center in Cedar Rapids has earned a four-star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) based on the quality of patient care it provides. Mercy is the only dialysis center in the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City area to earn this level of distinction from CMS.

The CMS star rating shows how well a dialysis center delivers care on average, based on Medicare data. Each dialysis center receives a rating between one and five stars. The star rating is part of Medicare's work to make data on the quality of patient care easier to understand and use.

Mercy opened the first outpatient dialysis program in the area 31 years ago. More than 19,000 treatments will be performed at the hospital's three dialysis locations this year. Mercy Health Plaza in Cedar Rapids features 33 outpatient dialysis stations in a convenient, easy–to-access location.  Dialysis is also offered at Mercy’s main hospital campus and at Virginia Gay Hospital in Vinton.

The Mercy Dialysis Center team includes physicians, nurse specialists, social workers and dietitians, all under the direction of the area’s most experienced dialysis (nephrology) physician, Dr. Fadi Yacoub.

Mercy also provides acute and chronic hemodialysis as well as continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. These life-saving procedures are often intermediate steps for patients awaiting kidney transplant surgery.

Patients new to dialysis should talk to their nephrologist about what the CMS ratings mean and how they can be used to help choose a dialysis center. It may also be helpful to visit a dialysis center, tour the center, meet the staff and ask questions.

For more information on Mercy Dialysis Center, call (319) 398-6423.