H.R.2544 -Securing the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Act
By law, the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) is operated under contract between Health and Human Services (HHS) and United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). UNOS manages the national transplant waiting list, matching donors to recipients according to policies developed by the community and approved by the OPTN Board of Directors. UNOS is the only contractor to ever hold, or bid for, the OPTN contract.
Reps. Bucshon and Kelly introduced a bipartisan bill H.R. 2544 to make organ procurement and transplantation more effective and efficient. This legislation will allow the contracts to be open to other entities with the goal in mind of improving technology, data transparency, governance, operations, quality, and innovation.
The goal of the legislation is to open the process up for bid. RSN would like to see many changes including:
• Update the OPTN system that is used to match and track transplants.
• Improve tracking of organs though a GPS system to prevent loss or delay.
• Create a transparent system to know if someone is active on the list or not.
Active vs. Not Active on the Kidney Transplant Wait List
If you are listed on the kidney transplant wait list, do you know if you are active? Over 40 percent of people are not active on the kidney transplant list. “Not Active” means your name is on the list, but a box is checked which prevents you from being matched in the system.
You may be checked as “not active” if you are waiting to get some type of medical testing completed or experiencing a health issue which needs to be resolved. If you are unsure what your status is, ask your transplant team to confirm whether you are active on the list.
CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION ON THIS BILL BY CONTACTING YOUR REPRESENTATIVES TODAY
More news and Letters regarding this bill:
HRSA Announces Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Modernization Initiative
Web ID 8069
