How can America's organ transplant system be improved?

Ali Rogin:

Kidneys topped the list of most needed organs in the United States. Currently, nearly 115,000 people are waiting for new organs. However, the talent shortage crisis is nothing new. More than 46,000 organ transplants were performed last year. However, 5,600 people still die each year waiting for organ donation.

Barry Friedman is the former executive director of AdventHealth Transplant Institute. This is a hospital that specializes in organ donation and transplantation. He is currently with Guidry and East, an organ transplant consulting firm. Barry, thank you so much for being here. What is causing the organ transplant backlog in the United States?

Barry Friedman, Strategy Director, Guidry and East Transplant Consulting: The waiting list is currently growing. And as the waiting list grows, we must ensure that the organs we are recovering are used appropriately.

Currently, this country is trying to get organs to the right patients at the right time by distributing them across the country. Therefore, this may mean delivering the kidney to the patient on a commercial or chartered aircraft. And there were some real challenges and delays in getting that done. We are becoming more efficient. We are trying to have a longer shelf life so that these organs can be stored on controlled ice or machine perfusion.

And there's a lot of technology out there that can really help improve that. And I think we're going to start to see a change in terms of making sure these kidneys are transplanted.