In the mid-1960's kidney disease was a death sentence for the diabetic and others who suffered from renal failure. End-stage renal disease was the eighth leading cause of death prior to the advent of first, National Medical Care (1968) and subsequently the Medicare End-Stage Renal Disease Program (1972).

The Price of Access is the story of a trio of nephrologists at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and the Harvard Medical School in Boston, who created a system of delivering outpatient dialysis care for thousands of patients in the United States who would otherwise be left to die. These physicians refused to accept the rationing of healthcare for their patients and established a corporation (NMC) that would become the world¹s largest provider of renal services and would later be acquired by W. R. Grace & Co.

The Price of Access describes the arduous and intriguing journey of Dr. Hampers and his colleagues in devising a system of low cost, high quality out-of-hospital dialysis clinics and in confronting challenges from the media, the medical establishment, Wall Street skeptics and corporate adversaries to create a model of efficiency.