Bill Peckman tweeted this link earlier, and it’s a fantastic (quick read) post.
Not surprisingly the Denver Post’s take on this (I’m curious if DaVita was their only source, I haven’t looked into this personally yet) is flat out wrong.
Their explanation for higher mortality rates in in-center dialysis patients in the US is based on the higher incidence of kidney disease.
In fact, just the opposite is true:

As a group individuals who self identify as African American have better survival while using dialysis then non-African Americans. A 2007 paper in Seminars in Nephrology reported that “the risk of death is nearly 45% lower in African-Americans than Caucasians undergoing chronic hemodialysis.” Thus, the US does not have a comparatively higher death rate because of the higher proportion of blacks with kidney disease.

Thanks for bringing this to the ESRD community’s attention Bill.
I know I’ve been absent a long time from ESRD advocacy and involvement. Perhaps with your keen intellect and help, I can turn that around and begin contributing to your great effort once again, if in no other way, through awareness and exposure.