The federal government on Wednesday announced a new initiative aimed at overhauling the United States’ organ transplant system, which is belabored by long wait times for life-saving procedures.
The Health Resources and Services Administration, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, announced a plan to attempt to overhaul the network that runs the organ transplant system, in an effort to reduce wait times and cut down on the number of Americans who die every year while waiting for an organ replacement.
“Every day, patients and families across the United States rely on the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network to save the lives of their loved ones who experience organ failure,” Carole Johnson, the administrator of the HRSA, said in a statement. “At HRSA, our stewardship and oversight of this vital work is a top priority.”
“That is why we are taking action to both bring greater transparency to the system and to reform and modernize the OPTN,” she continued. “The individuals and families that depend on this life-saving work deserve no less.”
The agency’s proposal includes rolling out a new dashboard showing data on organ retrieval, waitlist registrations and candidates, demographics and transplants, as well as a modernization of the network’s IT system “in line with industry-leading standards” in an effort to improve the OPTN’s governance and increase its accountability and transparency.
The agency noted that President Joe Biden’s 2024 fiscal year budget includes $67 million for organ procurement and transplant, more than double the amount the year prior. They also called on Congress to pass an update to the National Organ Transplant Act — the 1984 bill which created the OPTN — that would remove the appropriations cap on what it can spend on contracts and expand the pool of eligible contractors to bolster competition, which it says would “enhance performance and innovation.”
The country’s organ transplant network is managed by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), a nonprofit which works under contract with the federal government. UNOS is the only organization which has operated the transplant network.
In a statement to Spectrum News, a the nonprofit says that it backs the reforms proposed by federal authorities.
“UNOS supports HRSA’s plan to introduce additional reforms into the nation’s organ donation and transplantation system,” they said. “We also stand united with HRSA in our shared goal to get as many donor organs as possible to the patients in need while increasing accountability, transparency and oversight.”
“We welcome a competitive and open bidding process for the next OPTN contract to advance our efforts to save as many lives as possible, as equitably as possible,” they continued. “We believe we have the experience and expertise required to best serve the nation’s patients and to help implement HRSA’s proposed initiatives. Numerous components of HRSA’s plan also align with our new action agenda, which is a list of specific proposals we outlined earlier this year aimed at driving improvement across the system.”
“We are committed to working with HRSA, HHS, Congress and others who care about this system so deeply to assist in carrying out these reforms and to do our part to improve how we serve America’s organ donors, transplant patients and their families,” the statement concludes.
According to OrganDonor.gov, there are more than 104,000 men, women and children on the national transplant waiting list, and 17 people per day die waiting for an organ transplant. As of January, the vast majority of patients on the waiting list — nearly 89,000 — are waiting for a kidney; more than 10,000 are waiting for a liver, and more than 3,300 are waiting for a heart transplant.
