The Saint Barnabas Pediatric Nephrology and Transplantation Program, Livingston, the first complete pediatric nephrology service in New Jersey, recently changed its name to the Barnabas Health Children’s Kidney Center.

The new name was selected to better reflect the program’s services which provide technical excellence, clinical research and advocacy for families whose children suffer from kidney disease and high blood pressure which is often related to kidney problems.
“When a child’s kidneys are not working, the whole body’s physiology changes,” said Dr. Isabel Roberti, director of the Barnabas Health Children’s Kidney Center. “The digestive system doesn’t function normally, brain development and bone growth are impaired, even taste sensation is affected. The kidney performs many functions, but dialysis can only correct a few of them.”

It requires an interdisciplinary team of pediatric specialists to coordinate the care of children with renal disease, and for many of the tiniest patients, transplant is the only good option, she added.

Since 1996, the Barnabas Health Children’s Kidney Center has performed more than 130 kidney transplants — more than any other facility in the state — on patients between 10 months and 19 years of age. With nearly three quarters of their patients receiving kidneys through living donation — mostly from their parents — the center consistently exceeded national averages for both short-term and long-term graft-survival rates and acute-rejection rates.

In addition to transplantation, the center provides treatment for blood or protein in the urine, inflammatory kidney diseases, urinary tract infections, hypertension, metabolic diseases of kidney origin, kidney stones and a variety of immune-mediated conditions affecting the kidneys, including Lupus. Physicians offer experienced prenatal counseling for fetal renal anomalies and genetic diseases diagnosed intra-utero.

Dr. Roberti and the members of the Children’s Kidney Center work closely with parents and families throughout the transplant process. “It is not just medical expertise and technology that create success stories in pediatric kidney transplantation,” said Dr. Roberti. “These children survive because of the love, strength and dedication of their families.”

To learn more about the Barnabas Health Children’s Kidney Center, visit barnabashealth.org/KIDneycare or call 973-322-5264.

...

The Saint Barnabas Pediatric Nephrology and Transplantation Program, Livingston, the first complete pediatric nephrology service in New Jersey, recently changed its name to the Barnabas Health Children’s Kidney Center.

The new name was selected to better reflect the program’s services which provide technical excellence, clinical research and advocacy for families whose children suffer from kidney disease and high blood pressure which is often related to kidney problems.
“When a child’s kidneys are not working, the whole body’s physiology changes,” said Dr. Isabel Roberti, director of the Barnabas Health Children’s Kidney Center. “The digestive system doesn’t function normally, brain development and bone growth are impaired, even taste sensation is affected. The kidney performs many functions, but dialysis can only correct a few of them.”

It requires an interdisciplinary team of pediatric specialists to coordinate the care of children with renal disease, and for many of the tiniest patients, transplant is the only good option, she added.

Since 1996, the Barnabas Health Children’s Kidney Center has performed more than 130 kidney transplants — more than any other facility in the state — on patients between 10 months and 19 years of age. With nearly three quarters of their patients receiving kidneys through living donation — mostly from their parents — the center consistently exceeded national averages for both short-term and long-term graft-survival rates and acute-rejection rates.

In addition to transplantation, the center provides treatment for blood or protein in the urine, inflammatory kidney diseases, urinary tract infections, hypertension, metabolic diseases of kidney origin, kidney stones and a variety of immune-mediated conditions affecting the kidneys, including Lupus. Physicians offer experienced prenatal counseling for fetal renal anomalies and genetic diseases diagnosed intra-utero.

Dr. Roberti and the members of the Children’s Kidney Center work closely with parents and families throughout the transplant process. “It is not just medical expertise and technology that create success stories in pediatric kidney transplantation,” said Dr. Roberti. “These children survive because of the love, strength and dedication of their families.”

To learn more about the Barnabas Health Children’s Kidney Center, visit barnabashealth.org/KIDneycare or call 973-322-5264.

...

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A 2011 Mississippi law that required appeals of certificate-of-need decisions go directly to the state Supreme Court has been declared unconstitutional.

The ruling came this past week grew out of a lawsuit between two companies competing to operate a kidney dialysis treatment center in Montgomery County.

The justices earlier had questioned whether the Supreme Court should hear the case. They said the Mississippi Constitution does not give them jurisdiction over certificate-of-need appeals. They said lawmakers should have proposed a companion constitutional amendment to make that change.

Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr., in ordering parties to address the constitutional question last summer, said "without a corresponding amendment to the constitutional provision establishing this court's jurisdiction, the appeal presents a substantial question."

In a unanimous ruling last Thursday, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal.

Justice Michael Randolph, writing for the court, said neither the state health official or the Board of Health is a judicial body. He said appeals from their certificate-of-need decisions must go first to the appropriate lower court. In this case, that would be Chancery Court.

Bryant Clark of Pickens, attorney for Dialysis Solutions, said his client will proceed through Chancery Court once the Supreme Court addresses any motions for rehearing.

Bryant, who also is a state representative, said when the Legislature passed the law the argument was that all certificate-of-need cases ultimately were decided by the Supreme Court and so appeals should be sent directly to the justices.

"There were questions about the constitutionality. I understood the rationale of doing it. But at the same time there was a purpose to a trial court doing some fact-finding as well. I think they got it right," Clark said.

Thursday's ruling is the latest development in a dispute involving the companies Renal Care and Dialysis Solutions.

Renal Care received a certificate-of-need in 2004 for a dialysis center. State law said such certificates are valid for a year and could be extended for six more months. However, the Health Department extended it four times.

In February 2010, the Supreme Court ruled the Health Department lacked authority for the extra extensions.

Dialysis Solutions, which had sought a certificate-of-need before Renal Care began construction in 2007, is trying to block the Health Department from using legislative authority to extend Renal Care's certificate retroactively.

Dialysis Solutions initially sought an injunction in Hinds County. Then in July 2011 — after the new law took effect — the company filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.

The state of Mississippi requires a certificate-of-need in a process designed to avoid duplication of health care services and control costs.

...

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A 2011 Mississippi law that required appeals of certificate-of-need decisions go directly to the state Supreme Court has been declared unconstitutional.

The ruling came this past week grew out of a lawsuit between two companies competing to operate a kidney dialysis treatment center in Montgomery County.

The justices earlier had questioned whether the Supreme Court should hear the case. They said the Mississippi Constitution does not give them jurisdiction over certificate-of-need appeals. They said lawmakers should have proposed a companion constitutional amendment to make that change.

Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr., in ordering parties to address the constitutional question last summer, said "without a corresponding amendment to the constitutional provision establishing this court's jurisdiction, the appeal presents a substantial question."

In a unanimous ruling last Thursday, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal.

Justice Michael Randolph, writing for the court, said neither the state health official or the Board of Health is a judicial body. He said appeals from their certificate-of-need decisions must go first to the appropriate lower court. In this case, that would be Chancery Court.

Bryant Clark of Pickens, attorney for Dialysis Solutions, said his client will proceed through Chancery Court once the Supreme Court addresses any motions for rehearing.

Bryant, who also is a state representative, said when the Legislature passed the law the argument was that all certificate-of-need cases ultimately were decided by the Supreme Court and so appeals should be sent directly to the justices.

"There were questions about the constitutionality. I understood the rationale of doing it. But at the same time there was a purpose to a trial court doing some fact-finding as well. I think they got it right," Clark said.

Thursday's ruling is the latest development in a dispute involving the companies Renal Care and Dialysis Solutions.

Renal Care received a certificate-of-need in 2004 for a dialysis center. State law said such certificates are valid for a year and could be extended for six more months. However, the Health Department extended it four times.

In February 2010, the Supreme Court ruled the Health Department lacked authority for the extra extensions.

Dialysis Solutions, which had sought a certificate-of-need before Renal Care began construction in 2007, is trying to block the Health Department from using legislative authority to extend Renal Care's certificate retroactively.

Dialysis Solutions initially sought an injunction in Hinds County. Then in July 2011 — after the new law took effect — the company filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.

The state of Mississippi requires a certificate-of-need in a process designed to avoid duplication of health care services and control costs.

...