ARG

More than 200,000 patients with end-stage renal disease undergo dialysis in the United States each year, about two thirds in for-profit cen-ters. Economic pressures, such as the decline in in-flation-adjusted Medicare payments for dialysis, may compromise the quality of care. Facilities may also be reluctant to refer patients to be evaluated for trans-plantation because of the loss of revenues from dial-ysis after patients receive transplants. It is unknown whether for-profit facilities respond more aggressive-ly than not-for-profit facilities to these financial pres-sures. Therefore, we examined the effect of for-profit ownership of dialysis facilities on patients ’ survival and referral for possible transplantation