DaVita has wider healthcare ambitions; patients wary

Denver-based dialysis giant DaVita has ambitious plans to manage all of its kidney patients' health needs while also pushing into primary care for the general public, opening rich new territory but worrying patient advocates. DaVita would like to join doctor and hospital groups who are contracting with Medicare to create "accountable care organizations," to oversee a patient's entire healthcare needs. The dialysis chain has opened a primary care clinic for its own employees, or "citizens" in company parlance, in Tacoma, WA, and wants to expand the clinic's care to other employers in the area. That clinic will serve as a research and development model for DaVita's wider health care ambitions, DaVita Chairman Kent Thiry said.