New OPTN collaborative project launched
Published on: Wednesday, March 4, 2020
The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network has launched a collaborative improvement project for 2020. More than 10 select pediatric liver programs have registered for a pediatric liver discovery project. The participating member hospitals have a history of both deceased and living donor as well as split pediatric liver transplants. The project aims to help hospitals improve their pediatric liver programs’ processes.
The discovery project involves approximately a dozen hospitals and focuses on three areas:
- Pre-transplant management
- Split liver transplantation
- Living donor transplantation
The OPTN contract with the Health Resources and Services Administration requires the OPTN to develop new models for monitoring and improving OPTN member performance through collaborative performance improvement structures. The OPTN strategic plan specifically calls for the use of collaborative improvement methodologies to help increase utilization and share effective practices.
Supported by HRSA, the OPTN has already tested this methodology in the Collaborative Innovation and Improvement Network pilot, or COIIN. The goal was to increase the utilization of moderate-to-high KDPI kidneys and reduce risk-avoidance behavior associated with using harder-to-place organs.
OPTN collaborative projects are not prescriptive, but rather opportunities to help drive process improvement from within each organization or program. Each project will focus on a different improvement area, but they will be based upon the collaborative improvement model developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
By tracking progress and sharing key learnings in a supportive environment—coached by specialists—OPTN members can help each other improve organizational processes, become more efficient and increase lifesaving transplants.
Explore the Improvement section on the OPTN website to learn about collaborative improvement, understand the impact the methodology has already had on transplantation, and find out more about upcoming projects.
For more information about OPTN collaborative improvement, contact ci@unos.org.