Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network

Changes to requirements for donor information shipped with organs
Changes align with CMS regulatory changes, effective January 1, 2017.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Nominees chosen for 2017 board election
OPTN/UNOS member voting representatives will receive a ballot and biographical information for the nominees in early 2017.
Sunday, December 11, 2016

OPTN/UNOS Board Places Indiana Donor Network on Probation
A routine site survey of records at the organization identified concerns with completeness of documentation in donor charts and adherence to its established quality processes.
Monday, December 5, 2016

Probation ended for Baptist Memorial Hospital
The board had placed the hospital on probation in October 2014 to address concerns relating to a pattern of lower-than-expected patient and graft survival rates at its heart transplant program. More recent outcomes for heart recipients transplanted at the hospital have shown improvement.
Monday, December 5, 2016

OPTN/UNOS Board approves revised adult heart allocation system, clarifies exception points for liver transplant candidates with hepatocellular carcinoma
The OPTN/UNOS Board of Directors, at its meeting Dec. 5 and 6 in St. Louis, approved a major update of the system used to allocate hearts for adult transplant candidates nationwide. In other action, the Board approved policy changes to refine automatic approval of exception points for liver transplant candidates with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a form of liver cancer.
Monday, December 5, 2016

At one year anniversary, HOPE Act impact continuing to be assessed
As of November 18, 2016, 19 transplants (13 kidney and six liver transplants) have been performed involving organs from HIV-positive donors for HIV-positive recipients.
Monday, November 21, 2016

Webinar recording available on improving post-transplant communication
Policy changes are effective September 1, 2016; updates in special pathogens list effective December 1, 2016.
Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Committee continues review of input on liver distribution issues
The committee will further review various solutions to address geographic disparities in liver distribution, with the goal of developing a revised proposal for public comment in the near future.
Thursday, November 3, 2016

Hospitals chosen for initial phase of COIIN pilot
COIIN is a three-year project intended to increase kidney utilization and study new methods of quality monitoring.
Tuesday, October 18, 2016

New opo best practices video available
Two OPOs in Region 4 share how using the Dual Advocacy® method helped them increase the number of organs available for transplant.
Friday, October 14, 2016