U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Networks need a Reboot

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. Larry Bucshon and Robin 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.
Web ID HR2544