The Organ Transplant and Procurement Network (OPTN) will undergo a planned renovation by the US government that will modernize its IT infrastructure, increase transparency, and break up a third-party contractor’s extensive influence over the system.
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which is responsible for managing the network, assures that the responsibility is critical and of utmost priority. This is why they are taking steps to modernize and reform the OPTN as well as to increase system transparency. Nobody should settle for less for the people and families that depend on this effort to save lives.
According to the HRSA, the OPTN Modernization Program would strengthen the accountability, equality, and performance of the network, which has around 400 members and more than 104,000 adults and children waiting in line for organs. The initiative depends on increasing organ procurement and transplantation funding by more than tripling it to $67 million. The figures were stated in the fiscal year 2024 annual budget request.
Moreover, it mandates that Congress changes the National Organ Transplant Act, which is almost 40 years old, to enable HRSA to allocate resources more effectively and to include a larger pool of eligible contract companies, especially the IT service providers.
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra stated at a Senate Budget Committee hearing that the initiative will ask for competition in who becomes a contractor for these organ procurement and transplant services. The United Network for Organ Sharing is a private charity that the government has hired to provide that service (UNOS). The corporation has been working alone to manage the network and organize member transplant and procurement groups since 1986.
Recently, senators on the Senate Finance Committee have criticized both UNOS and the OPTN. The organization published a report the previous year and had hearings in the summer that mentioned the failures in the organ transplant system that resulted in fatalities. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the committee’s head, praised the administration for ending the longstanding monopoly deal and stated:
“Today’s announcement is a big victory for families nationwide who have been fighting for a more effective organ procurement and transplantation system. For too long it’s been clear that UNOS has fallen short of the requirements for this contract and the expectations of Americans waiting for a transplant.”
UNOS also supports HRSA’s proposal to implement further changes to the country’s organ donation and transplantation system. The data dashboard, now available on the HRSA website and sharing data on donors, procurement, transplant waitlists, and recipients, is the first component in the organization’s revamp. The proposal also aims at improving the independence of the board of directors of OPTNs through the contracting procedure.
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