Modern Healthcare magazine recently featured a piece authored by three of the nation’s foremost experts on organ donation. Combined, the authors have over 100 years of expertise in the field as donation professionals and as CEOs of federally designated Organ Procurement Organizations. The article, by former LifeSource CEO Susan Gunderson, former LifeCenter Northwest CEO Kevin O’Connor and former Gift of Life CEO Howard Nathan, highlights the important work now being done to make transplantation more available and more equitable to all.
“In May, the nation’s four historically Black medical schools—Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Sciences, Howard University College of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, and Morehouse School of Medicine—announced a collaboration with the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations and the Organ Donation Advisory Group to increase the number of Black registered donors and transplant recipients, as well as the number of Black medical professionals in the field.
The collaboration’s initiatives were driven in large part by an independent report released in February from the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine. The NASEM report, titled “Realizing the Promise of Equity in the Organ Transplantation System,” calls for transformative improvements in our system in three key areas: equitable allocation of organs, maximum usage of those organs and overall system performance.
It sets benchmarks for an increase in organ transplants to 50,000 annually by 2026, and it enumerates the steps necessary to escalate both donation and transplantation rates among minority and disadvantaged communities.”
As to the NASEM report, the trio note that…
“Two of the most significant NASEM recommendations are:
• Incentivize transplant programs to use less-than-perfect organs and inform their patients that these are available, accompanied by research that demonstrates such organs have little effect on health outcomes. This is projected to significantly decrease the number of organs that go unused. NASEM estimates this could reduce the rate at which kidneys are discarded from 25% to 5% in five years.
• Reduce racial disparities in transplantation by making sure patients who are diagnosed with a disease that may lead to organ failure are promptly referred for medical treatment. The report points out that Black Americans suffer from kidney failure (which accounts for the majority of transplants) at three times the rate of whites but are often referred for medical treatment and placed on the transplant wait list far later.”
The three experts call on the donation and transplant community to stay true to the foundational values that lead to continued improvement…
“The report urges changes to the system that motivate all stakeholders to work collaboratively; and it recognizes that the gifts of donors and donor families, who make the entire system possible in the first place, must be honored.
These are the foundations the system was built upon in its early years, back when we first entered it. This is the reason our system, which achieved a record 41,000 transplants in 2021, has come so far already. Continuing our commitment to two core values—collaboration across the system and appreciation for the donors and donor families who make it possible—will advance it even further, not at some distant time but in the near future. We can see true equity here and believe collaboration and respect for every organ donated will lead us there.”
The full article may be accessed at https://www.modernhealthcare.com/opinion/organ-every-eligible-transplant-recipient-may-be-within-our-grasp?