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OPTN computer system metrics

Explore metrics and data on the performance of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) Computer System, known as UNetSM. These metrics will be updated by the 12th business day of every month by the OPTN and contain a rolling 12 months of data. The OPTN Network Operations and Oversight Committee (NOOC) develops and provides oversight on objective metrics related to the OPTN matching function.

The systems and tools described in this report are those used by the OPTN contractor to deliver the required functionality for the OPTN. The following table provides a description of the OPTN system name, and the system name used by the OPTN contractor. The system names used by the OPTN contractor are used throughout this report.

OPTN System Name System Name used by OPTN contractor
OPTN Computer System UNetSM
OPTN Data System TIEDI®
OPTN Organ Labeling, Packaging and Tracking System TransNetSM
OPTN Donor Data and Matching System DonorNet®
OPTN Waiting List WaitlistSM
OPTN Kidney Paired Donation Pilot Project (KPDPP) KPDSM Pilot

Running a match is the first step Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) users take in the UNet system when they are ready to begin organ allocation. When OPO users run a match for an organ, UNet confirms all of the required donor parameters such as, blood type or donor age, are available and then runs an algorithm that produces an ordered list of potential recipients for the organ according to OPTN policy. The total runtime is the number of seconds it takes for the algorithm to produce the list of potential recipients.

Kidney matches account for approximately 85% of all match runs. Since the match algorithm must evaluate all candidates listed on the waitlist for a particular organ at the time of the match run, match runtimes vary depending upon the size of the waitlist. Kidney registrations make up more than 80% of all waitlist registrations. Therefore, the kidney match runtimes tend to be greater compared to other organs.

These metrics track both the median match runtime and the match runtime at the 95th and 99th percentiles. For example, if the match runtime is 17 seconds at 95th percentile for heart/lung matches in January, then 95% of heart/lung matches in January ran in 17 seconds or less. The 95th and 99th percentiles allow us to track spikes in match runtimes so that we can proactively address any match runtime issues.

Matches for Vascular Composite Allografts (VCA) were implemented in the OPTN Computer System in September 2023.

After the match run is complete, OPOs review match results and donor data to determine the appropriate time to begin sending organ offers. OPOs use DonorNet to send organ offer notifications to transplant hospitals. The notifications are delivered simultaneously as voice calls and emails.

The OPTN contractor uses multiple third-party services to deliver voice calls and utilizes the OPTN Computer System to send emails, creating multiple dissimilar redundant systems for offer notifications.

This metric only measures the performance of the third-party services by measuring voice call delivery confirmation time and the number of voice call notifications sent. It does not measure OPO or transplant hospital performance in sending or responding to offers.

The system begins receiving confirmations from the third-party services 2 minutes after the voice call was sent, therefore no delivery confirmation will be less than 2 minutes.

The following chart shows the overall matching function availability for each month during the reporting period. Matching function availability is reported excluding planned maintenance, with a target service level agreement (SLA) of 99.9%.

Any occurrences of unplanned full system downtime are treated as Category 1 matching function issues that are to be resolved within 1 hour of identification. See the Matching Functions Issues by Category section of this dashboard for a list of any Category 1 matching function issues.

The table below lists occurrences of match function downtime during the reporting period. The OPTN contractor sends a system notice to OPTN matching function users prior to any planned downtime. This notice includes the planned duration of the downtime. Scheduled downtime is necessary in order to improve and maintain the system.

The following table outlines the timelines the OPTN contractor has established for resolving matching issues based upon four categories (see descriptions of each category in table):

Category Matching function availability Candidate impact Examples Resolved within
1 - Critical Unavailable All Cannot run a match, system is completely down 1 hour of identification
2 - High Partially Available All

Issues with electronic offers, slowness that impacts organ placement activity

Inability to add any candidates to the waiting list or inability to add a donor

 2 hours of identification
3 - Moderate Partially Available Some A portion of the waiting list is impacted (e.g., unable to upgrade a liver candidate's medical urgency, unable to run matches for a specific donor or organ type) 6 hours of identification
4 - Low Available One One candidate's data is incorrect, affecting placement on the match 8 hours of identification

Any occurrences of unplanned full system downtime are treated as Category 1 matching function issues are to be resolved within 1 hour of identification as per OPTN task 3.4.1.1 requirement. The following table lists Category 1 matching function issues during the reporting period.

Any Category 2 matching function issues are to be resolved within 2 hours of identification as per OPTN task 3.4.1.1 requirement. The following table lists Category 2 matching function issues during the reporting period.

Any Category 3 matching function issues are to be resolved within 6 hours of identification as per OPTN task 3.4.1.1 requirement. The following table lists Category 3 matching function issues during the reporting period.

Any Category 4 matching function issues are to be resolved within 8 hours of identification as per OPTN task 3.4.1.1 requirement. The following table lists Category 4 matching function issues during the reporting period.

The table below lists all policy projects implemented in the past twelve months that required OPTN contractor IT effort.

The table also includes all policy projects that had a material programming revision in the past twelve months. A material programming revision is a correction to an incorrectly implemented OPTN policy.

For information about approved policy projects that have not yet been implemented, see Notices of approved actions.

Revisions due to policy adjustments are changes that were made to the policy language after implementation and also required a programming change.