The Data Advisory Committee (DAC) is an operating committee of the OPTN. The DAC is charged with regular review of the OPTN Data Collection Principles and ensuring that data collection activities are in alignment with these principles. The DAC is charged with overseeing all recommendations to the Board of Directors regarding the collection of official OPTN data that are pertinent to the operation of the OPTN, necessary for the development of evidence-based OPTN policies, and to support analytic work undertaken by the OPTN Contractor or the SRTR contractor to perform the tasks required under the respective contracts, the Final Rule, and NOTA. The DAC is charged with making recommendations to the Board of Directors to revise the OPTN Data Collection Principles as needed, to update OPTN data submission and release policies, to collaborate with other OPTN committees on additions, modifications, and deletions of the data elements collected by the OPTN, to improve completeness, accuracy, and timeliness of data collected, to enhance the official OPTN data with elements from other data sources, and any other recommendations and efficiencies for improving collection of official OPTN data.

Principles for Data Collection

Institutional members must provide sufficient data to OPTN to allow it to:

• Develop transplant, donation, and allocation policies
• Determine if Institutional Members are complying with policy
• Determine Member-specific performance
• Ensure patient safety when no alternative sources of data exist
• Fulfill the requirements of the OPTN Final Rule

Monitoring and data reports

Department of Health and Human Services data directive

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced a directive for the OPTN to collect additional data on patients prior to waitlist registration and referrals of potential deceased donors to organ procurement organizations (OPOs). The OPTN Final Rule allows federal authorization of additional data collection to promote the efficiency of the OPTN.

View data directive and updates

Project to update refusal codes

Learn more about the refusal codes project.

Chair

• Dr. Jesse Schold
• University of Colorado Hospital/Health Science Center

Vice Chair

• Dr. Lisa McElroy
• Duke University Hospital

Liaison

• Eric Messick
• UNOS Employee
• eric.messick@unos.org