Goal 3

Improve waitlisted patient, living donor and transplant recipient outcomes

Goal 3, outcomes, includes data tools to better understand organ offers, and living donation and transplant outcomes. Traditionally, the difference between goals 3 and 4 – safety and outcomes – is one of timing. Safety events are short-term transplant operation issues, and outcomes refer to long-term, post-transplant graft and patient survival.

Resource Allocation Benchmark: 15%

Core activities

UNOS aggregates national OPTN data and analyzes trends in transplantation and provides meaningful and actionable reports and tools to members that contribute to the collective knowledge of effective organ transplantation.

Initiatives

1. Consider recipient longevity and quality of life measures in transplant hospital metrics.
2. Evaluate effective methods for assessing living donor outcomes.
3. Enhance transplant program tools and education in the selection and follow up of living donors.
4. Develop tools to calculate survival benefit to inform transplant hospital practices, patient management, and OPTN policy development.
5. Improve patient tools for understanding transplant center metrics and comparing programs.
6. Improve patient tools for understanding the allocation process and organ acceptance strategies.
7. Improve patient tools for understanding living donation.
8. Improve the process/management of donor information that becomes available after transplantation (blood cultures, sputum cultures, urine cultures, etc.).

Key metrics

1. A reduction in waitlist mortality.
2. An increase in 1-year graft and patient survival rates.
3. An increase in the 5-year graft and patient survival rates.