On October 2-3, 2003, a community of stakeholders participated in a Consensus Conference to design a Collaborative Action Plan for improving Dialysis Patient - Provider Conflict (DPC). The goals of the Consensus Conference were: · To create a shared understanding of the “anticipated barriers” that the community of stakeholders will face in improving the DPC situation · To build commitment to an action plan for collaboratively addressing the “system of barriers” · To begin forging a “chain of partnerships” to implement a program for improving ESRD patient outcomes The work of the Consensus Conference was summarized in a Final Report, which is available below. Following the Consensus Conference, a Task Force, comprised of representatives of the stakeholder groups, was created to pursue work on several key action items funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). This Task Force amended the name of the Project to Decreasing Dialysis Patient-Provider Conflict (DPC). The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) funded work on several key action items, including development of a taxonomy, provider manual, and toolkit.

In December 2022, The ESRD National Coordinating Center, in conjunction with the ESRD Networks, Forum of ESRD Networks, and CMS, developed an addendum to the DPC Toolkit. The addendum focuses on health equity, self-awareness, de-escalation techniques, and conflict management.