Tag: OPO

Doctor or surgeon with organ transport after organ donation for surgery in front of the clinic in protective clothing.

Recent Organ Procurement Organization Regulations Will Save Lives

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Matthew Wadsworth

Thirty-three Americans die every day for lack of an organ transplant. As the CEO of an organ procurement organization (OPO) — one of the network of 57 government contractors responsible for organ recovery across the country — this is what I think about every day: how to help the 3,000 people waiting in my home state of Ohio and the more than 100,000 others around the country who wake up each morning hoping they get a call that a transplant is available.

Fortunately, the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently published new, pro-patient regulations to bring baseline accountability to OPOs. While some of my peers have opposed the reform effort, I see it as long overdue.

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adult and child hands holding red heart, organ donation concept image.

Opt-in vs. Opt-out Organ Donation Schemes: Evidence from the US and UK

James W. Lytle Leave a comment

By James W. Lytle

We need to encourage organ donation. In the U.S. alone, even with a record number of about 40,000 transplants in 2019 and some progress made towards closing the gap, approximately 108,000 Americans are on the waiting list.

In considering the best way to increase organ donation, much of the debate has focused on how to make organ donor registries more successful: nothing facilitates the prospect for organ donation more than knowing that a potential donor has already indicated their intention to donate.

Should registries, like those in the U.S., require people to elect to join (the “opt-in” approach) or should they presume consent to organ donation and register everyone except those who explicitly “opt-out,” as is the case in certain other countries?

I asked two transplant professionals, one from the U.S. and one from Wales, to help consider this question and related issues involving organ donation.

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organ transplant

New Regulations for Organ Procurement Organizations Pose Concerns

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Alexandra Glazier

The United States has one of the highest organ donation and transplant rates in the world. A poorly crafted regulatory change could disrupt our world-leading system and put patients at risk.

Recently, new performance regulations for organ procurement organizations (OPOs) were promulgated by CMS in the last stretch of the Trump Administration, which should be reviewed by the incoming Biden Administration.

While there is widespread support for reform to the system of organ donation and transplantation, including consensus that changes to the CMS metrics measuring OPO performance are warranted, there are significant differences in opinion on how that can be accomplished best.

Bipartisan groups and delegations of both Democrats and Republicans, donor families, the medical community, and donation and transplant professionals as well as OPOs have raised a range of concerns about specific aspects of the proposed and final regulations, making suggestions on how the regulations could be improved to achieve the goal of transplanting more patients.

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Adult and child holding kidney shaped paper on textured blue background.

New Regulation Aims at Accountability for Organ Procurement Organizations

Abe Sutton Leave a comment

By James W. Lytle and Abe Sutton

Facing a looming deadline for the adoption of pending proposed rules, the Trump Administration finalized a host of healthcare regulations, including highly anticipated regulations addressing drug pricing and Stark Law/anti-kickback rules. Within this flurry of regulatory activity, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) also finalized an important, but not as widely discussed, proposal that seeks to hold Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) more accountable for their performance.

While some of these last-minute actions by the outgoing administration may ultimately be reversed or revised by the Biden Administration, this rule was associated with a well-regarded Advancing American Kidney Health initiative that has been “widely hailed by health care groups, patient advocacy organizations and Democrats,” making it “the most broadly popular health initiative of Trump’s presidency.” While its fate is not entirely certain, the recently issued final rule may be one of the few last-minute legacies of the Trump Administration likely to be more warmly received by its successor.

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