A quarter century of medicare expenditures for ESRD.

Medicare's end-stage renal disease (ESRD) program is unique in that it is the only example of an entitlement program based solely on the basis of a clinical condition. Medicare payments on behalf of ESRD beneficiaries is a combination of ESRD-specific payment policies such as those for dialysis, physician oversight, erythropoeitin, and immunosuppression and general Medicare payment policies such as hospital payments, nondialysis physician services, home health, and skilled nursing care. Over the 25-year history of the program, much of the ESRD-related care has been subject to cost controls more stringent than elsewhere in Medicare. Total payments for ESRD beneficiaries continue to consume an ever-increasing percentage of Medicare expenditures, largely because of ever-expanding patient treatment criteria. However, increases in per capita expenditures for ESRD beneficiaries have been far below that of Medicare in general.