Biden administration plans overhaul of organ transplant system – JP

The Health Resources and Services Administration on Wednesday unveiled plans to break up the private nonprofit overseeing the nation’s organ transplantation system, and called on Congress to help.

The move follows years of widespread, bipartisan scrutiny of the United Network for Organ Sharing, which operates the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, known as OPTN. The United Network for Organ Sharing holds the sole federal contract to oversee the country’s organ procurement organizations and transplant centers. 

The new plan would award multiple contracts in order to “foster competition and ensure OPTN Board of Directors’ independence,” HRSA said.

“Every day, patients and families across the United States rely on the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network to save the lives of their loved ones who experience organ failure,” HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson said. “At HRSA, our stewardship and oversight of this vital work is a top priority. That is why we are taking action to both bring greater transparency to the system and to reform and modernize the OPTN. The individuals and families that depend on this life-saving work deserve no less.”

HRSA also called on Congress to more than double annual program funding to $67 million, remove the appropriations cap on OPTN contracts and expand the scope of eligible contractors — specifically IT contractors.