Home Dialysis in Houston: Frequently Asked Questions
Elik Home Dialysis answers the questions Houston patients and families actually ask about staff-assisted home hemodialysis: a licensed dialysis nurse performs every step of every treatment in your home, with no care partner and no training required. The straight answers on eligibility, insurance, and starting are below.
The service
- Yes. A licensed Elik dialysis nurse performs every step at every visit: setup, needle placement, the full treatment, monitoring, breakdown, and documentation for your doctor. You never operate a machine or place a needle.
- Hemodialysis performed entirely by a licensed nurse in your own home. Texas permits up to twelve patients per nurse in a dialysis center; with Elik, your nurse takes care of you alone, one to one, for the entire treatment.
- No. The Elik nurse does both, at every treatment. Nothing about the treatment is ever handed to you or your family.
Who qualifies
- Yes. Because the Elik nurse performs the whole treatment, living alone is one of the most common reasons patients choose Elik.
- No. The nurse is the care partner. No family training, no family involvement, ever.
- Yes. Seniors who want to stay in their own homes, and residents of assisted living and skilled nursing facilities, are treated without leaving the building.
- Two situations put staff-assisted home hemodialysis on hold: your nephrologist judges you medically unstable enough to need facility-based care for a period of time, or your residence has no workable treatment space (a chair or bed near reliable power and water, which our nurse assesses before the first treatment). The first is a temporary clinical status, not a verdict. Everyone else who wants home treatment but cannot or will not self-administer it is exactly who this service exists for.
Insurance
- No. Original Medicare does not pay for staff-assisted home hemodialysis, by law. Medicare Advantage plans follow Medicare's reimbursement rules, so they do not pay for it either. Elik provides staff-assisted home hemodialysis for eligible patients with BCBS, Cigna, or UnitedHealthcare/UHC commercial coverage, including when Medicare is the primary insurance. Medicare-only, Medicare Advantage (including BCBS, Cigna, or UHC Medicare Advantage plans), Medicare supplement (Medigap) plans, and Medicaid do not pay for this service through Elik. If you have Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, or UnitedHealthcare commercial insurance, on its own or as a secondary plan alongside Medicare, you qualify. Elik confirms your exact plan in one phone call: (713) 861-7500.
- Elik is in-network with Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, and UnitedHealthcare. If you have Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, or UnitedHealthcare commercial insurance, on its own or as a secondary plan alongside Medicare, you qualify. One call to (713) 861-7500 confirms your exact plan. Coverage details on the insurance page
Starting
- Once Elik confirms your plan and your nephrologist's orders arrive, most patients start within days. Hospital discharges move faster.
- No. You keep your own nephrologist. Every treatment runs under their orders, and they receive documentation after every visit.
- Yes. Treatments are scheduled around your hours, not against them.
- Yes. The complete treatment happens inside the building, coordinated directly with the facility, anywhere in the Houston metro.
- Call Elik at (713) 861-7500. We confirm your plan in one call, coordinate orders directly with your kidney doctor's office, and schedule your first home treatment. You make one phone call; Elik does the rest.
Elik Home Dialysis | 1445 North Loop West, Ste 720, Houston, TX 77008 | (713) 861-7500
Last reviewed: September 2026