Medical Education Institute

10/12/2026

With profound sadness, the Medical Education Institute shares the passing of our Executive Director, Dori Schatell, on October 8, 2026. Dori devoted her life to empowering people with kidney disease to live their best possible lives.

Please visit https://mei.org/remembering-dori-schatell/ for service information, including the Zoom link to attend virtually, and MEI’s tribute to Dori’s life and accomplishments. At the end of the page, there is space for you to share a special memory or message. We welcome stories about how Dori touched your life, including funny memories to help us laugh through our tears.

Dori’s family has also shared a beautiful obituary reflecting on who she was beyond her work and the many people who loved her: https://www.cremationsocietyofmd.com/obituaries/dorian-schatell

Dori’s legacy lives on in the people she helped and in the work we carry forward in her memory. We will miss her beyond measure.

View Dorian Ruth Schatell's obituary, send flowers, find service dates, and sign the guestbook.

09/02/2026

It's here! The webinar you all have been waiting for: Switching from Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) to Home Hemodialysis (HD)

Featured guests: Antonio and Christina, who will be sharing their stories about why they had to make "The Flip" from PD to home HD, what they experienced, and tips and tricks they can share to make others' journeys that much easier!

There will be a chat feature, so you can submit questions and comments in real time! The link to register for this FREE webinar is here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kN1dyjVlT2K7AwmXJHaWlw

We hope to see you there!

08/05/2026

Reposting this important message from Dialysis Clinic, Inc. (DCI)

Under current Medicare policy, patients with kidney failure who choose hospice care often face an impossible choice: give up dialysis or lose access to the hospice support they need. For patients nearing the end of life, a limited number of palliative dialysis treatments could ease symptoms and allow for a gentler, more dignified transition.

This link https://www.votervoice.net/mobile/IKC/Campaigns/138212/Respond?fbclid=IwT01FWATgdPFleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR7s9jMsxAvbA068riJnKdURcPLTFlI0U_XyKq2V9g6ZyM3Yehg-fUr2Hu2p7g_aem_nLXtPzRvStP56tEVfHAggQ will take you to a short form that will automatically send a message to your representative in Congress, urging them to support the bipartisan Concurrent Care for Comfort Act, H.R. 8376. This bill would allow Medicare to separately cover up to 10 sessions of palliative dialysis for eligible patients receiving hospice care.

Please take a moment to speak up, and share this post so that more members of Congress understand how important this issue is!

URGENT: We need your help!

Please contact your legislators and ask them to co-sponsor the Concurrent Care for Comfort Act (H.R. 8376).

For patients with end stage renal disease, access to concurrent hospice and palliative dialysis can make a critical difference at the end of life, supporting comfort, dignity, more time with loved ones and a smoother transition into hospice care.

This bipartisan bill would allow Medicare coverage for up to 10 sessions of palliative dialysis.

It takes just minutes to speak up! Learn more: https://www.dciinc.org/hr-8376/

07/10/2026

Are you looking for one trustworthy resource to help you understand kidney disease and the many decisions that may come with it?

If your kidneys, or a loved one’s, do not work well, it is normal to feel angry, sad, scared, or all three at once. My Kidney Life: A New Direction was written to help people with CKD, and their family members and care partners, move from fear toward HOPE! Based on what MEI has learned from tens of thousands of people affected by kidney disease, this comprehensive book covers coping, kidney function, transplant, dialysis options, choosing care, emergency planning, and much more! https://store.mei.org/my-kidney-life-a-new-direction/

05/29/2026

How many lives could be changed if more people had access to home dialysis, no matter where they live?

In this reflection on completing 20 years of daily nocturnal home hemodialysis, Kamal Shah shares both the freedom this therapy made possible and the difficult reality that many patients around the world still cannot access it. Stories like this remind us that we all need to do better to expand access to home dialysis for every person who could benefit from it. https://homedialysis.org/news-and-research/blog/696-i-completed-20-years-on-daily-nocturnal-hemodialysis

05/27/2026

Ready to hit the road (or board the plane or cruise ship) while on dialysis? Our free webinar this Wednesday, June 3 at 12:30 pm ET / 11:30 am CT brings together real patients sharing their travel stories and the tips that made it possible. Click the link to register and join the conversation! https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bvxNLCAURC-cRN-oKH8WSw #/registration

04/08/2026

How do you stay on schedule when needle fear threatens to derail your entire shift? While efficiency matters, it’s just as important to address that fear and help patients work through it. Our SPARK class, Helping Patients Overcome Needle Fear, gives you practical, real-world strategies to manage fear at every level so you can keep your day on track and your patients feeling supported.

Click here to find out more! https://mei.org/product/helping-patients-overcome-needle-fear/

04/07/2026

What does a power outage really mean for someone who needs dialysis to stay alive? As infrastructure breaks down, this blog shows how quickly disruptions compound, forcing impossible trade-offs and putting already vulnerable patients at even greater risk. https://homedialysis.org/news-and-research/blog/690-when-the-lights-go-out-infrastructure-failure-and-dialysis-patients

04/01/2026

Can you believe today is the last day of March? It’s been an honor to be part of National Kidney Month with all of you. We hope you had a chance to take advantage of our free CE SPARK class, The “Flip.” If not, you still have until 11:59 PM tonight to register, then complete the class at your convenience.
https://mei.org/spark-series/

If you are not already following us, please do so! We share real-world education, tools, and insights every week to support better outcomes for patients and the teams who care for them.

03/28/2026

Who remembers Paul Harvey’s radio broadcasts, “The Rest of the Story?” We have quite the rest of the story for you today.

Many of you may remember Dean Feener’s blog from last November, “A Voice-Guided Path to Safer Dialysis,” which shared how he created the hands-free app Dial-Assist to guide his dad through home HD treatments (https://homedialysis.org/news-and-research/blog/670-a-voice-guided-path-to-safer-dialysis). It's an incredible example of what patient-driven innovation can look like in real life.

Read today’s blog to see what happened next for the Feener family...it's definitely one worth reading! https://homedialysis.org/news-and-research/blog/689-my-80-year-old-solo-home-hd-dad-got-a-transplant