Fresenius spent $550K lobbying in first quarter

The company lobbied on legislation that lays out how the government pays for kidney dialysis services, according to the report filed April 18 with the House clerk's office.

Fresenius, whose North American operations are based in Waltham, Mass., has a key stake in policies affecting dialysis reimbursement because the government pays for the care of nearly all the 390,000 people on dialysis in the U.S.

Legislation pending in Congress would change how the government pays for the anemia drug Epogen, which is used exclusively in kidney dialysis centers. Medical experts have warned that the current Medicare payment policy encourages doctors to overprescribe Epogen to obtain fatter reimbursements. The legislation aims to change that by folding the costs of the drug into payments for all other dialysis-related services.

Besides Congress, Fresenius lobbied the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and other agencies in the first three months of the year.