Network Goals

CMS establishes priorities for the ESRD Network contractors annually in the Statement of  Work (PDF) section of each Network’s contract with the agency. These priorities support CMS  and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) national quality improvement goals and priorities. ESRD Network contractors are tasked to: Promote positive change relative to the Secretary's priorities and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) goals. The Health and Human Services (HHS) Priorities are:
  1. Priority 1: Opioid Crisis
  2. Priority 2: Health Insurance Reform
  3. Priority 3: Drug Pricing
  4. Priority 4: Value-Based Care
The CMS Goals are:
  • Goal 1:Empowering patients and doctors to make decisions about their health care
  • Goal 2: Increasing state flexibility
  • Goal 3:Developing innovative approaches to improving quality, accessibility & affordability
  • Goal 4:Improve the customer experience
The Networks are critical to achieving bold CMS goals for healthcare transformation and the aims of NQS, the HHS Secretary's priorities, and CMS goals
  • Serving as conveners, organizers, motivators, and change agents;
  • Leveraging technology to provide outreach and education:
  • Serving as partners in quality improvement with patients, practitioners, healthcare, providers, other healthcare organizations, and other stakeholders
  • Securing commitments to create collaborative relationships with other stakeholders and partners
  • Achieving and measuring changes at the patient level through data collection, analysis, and monitoring for improvement;
  • Disseminating and spreading best practices including those relating to clinical care, quality improvement techniques, and data collection through information exchange; and
  • Participating in the development of a CMS national framework for providing emergency preparedness services for the ESRD community
  • The Network works in collaboration with its Network Council, Medical Review  Board, Patient Advisory Committee, Grievance Committee, and Network activity-specific committees to develop quality improvement projects aligned with the goals identified by CMS for the ESRD Network program. The Network deploys interventions that target patients, dialysis and transplant providers, and other stakeholders. These interventions,  which focus on engaging patients, reducing disparities, and improving quality of care for ESRD patients are integrated into our QIAs located here.