After decades of status quo, an overhaul coming for US organ donation system

After nearly four decades, the federal government plans to modernize the system used to match transplant patients with donated organs.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the plan back in March.

Federal data shows more than 104,000 Americans are currently awaiting an organ transplant, and 17 people die every day while on the transplant waitlist.

The government hopes to increase transparency for patients and their families by launching a new website with a dashboard that provides detailed data on organ transplant wait lists, transplantation rates, and more.

This information will help recipients and their families make informed decisions about where to seek care.

“The cornerstones of organ transplantation are fairness and equity, and making sure that all patients around the country -- regardless of where they live, regardless of their race or ethnicity, regardless of their socioeconomic status -- have equal access to precious donor organs or gifts of life,” said Dr. Michael Givertz, Medical Director of the Heart Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support Program at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. “There are clearly issues with the current system.”

President Joe Biden’s administration is proposing $67 million in funding for the system in the 2024 fiscal budget.

The organ donation system has been run by the United Network for Organ Sharing since the program’s inception. Now, for the first time, the Biden administration is putting the nonprofit’s contract out to bid.

“There hasn’t been competition in this area ever, they’ve had this contract for almost 40 years,” Dr. Givertz said. “Could the system be improved if there was some competition in this area?”

The government is currently accepting bids from companies that can upgrade outdated computer systems.

“There is a demand that outpaces the supply,” said New England Donor Services President and CEO Alexandra Glazier. “There’s no easy fix, I think it really is a complicated system.”

Glazier hopes the overhaul will address the issue of wasted organs in the donation system. One recent study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine found about one in five donated kidneys goes unused.

“Utilizing innovations and technology to improve organs that are donated that may not be clinically suitable for transplantation today but with repair or perfusion technologies, may be able to be usable tomorrow,” Glazier said. “The alternative to a less than perfect organ is not a better organ necessarily, but it’s waiting without an organ.”

While these changes and improvements at the federal level won’t happen overnight, Glazier argues there’s one quick solution that could lead to lives being saved: More people registering as organ donors.

“If you were ever in need of a transplant or someone you loved was in need of a transplant, you would hope that an organ would be available to save their life,” Glazier said. “If you are willing to receive, you should be willing to give.”

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