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Written by Dianne LaPointe Rudow, ANP-BC, DNP, FAAN, UNOS Board Chair
community
Message from UNOS Board Chair, Diane Lapointe Ledoux
Put simply:
- recent president biden signed a new law Improving the United States Organ Procurement and Transplant Network (OPTN).
- The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will implement these changes in the following ways: Modernization efforts To provide the best service to our patients.
- UNOS, in collaboration with HRSA, has helped enact many of these important reforms as part of the Action Plan.
- Patients — your voice matters:
what happened
II am a trained nurse and have spent countless hours with both patients awaiting transplants and those who have just received transplants. I have seen firsthand the physical and emotional ups and downs that patients, living donors, loved ones, and families of generous donors go through, but one thing is clear: Patients like you is located in the center of the United States. The organ donation and transplantation system depends on us in the transplant community engaging with you and learning more from your experiences.
change is happening
This fall, President Biden signed the following agreements: Securing the United States Organ Procurement and Transplant Network Act Legislation aimed at improving the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network (OPTN). The law aims to make the system work more effectively for the more than 100,000 people waiting for life-saving organ transplants. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the federal agency that oversees OPTN, is working to implement it. Efforts to modernize the system, focused on enhancing performance, accountability and transparency while increasing competition for OPTN contracts. Currently, one of his federal contractors, UNOS, serves as his OPTN and continues to work with HRSA to implement reforms.
Impact on patients
From my time with patients, I know that the last thing they want is more uncertainty. But I believe these important changes will lead to a system that is easier for patients to understand and navigate, and ultimately help even more patients in need.
We look forward to your valuable perspective as a patient, donor, donor family, or caregiver. It’s important that we get these improvements right, so we need your feedback. With that in mind, we encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to help make the system work better for people like you. The success of HRSA’s modernization efforts depends on people with first-hand experience sharing their ideas, concerns, and recommendations.
Collaboration efforts
UNOS continues to support patients and all efforts to improve our nation’s organ donation and transplant system. As long as we have a waiting list, our work is never done.
UNOS continues to work with HRSA, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Congress, and the broader donation and transplant community to implement meaningful reforms that strengthen services for America’s organ donors, transplant recipients, and their families. I’ll go. Our ideas for system improvement are reflected in an action agenda that provides the reforms we believe are needed to strengthen the U.S. donation and transplant system, many of which align with HRSA’s modernization initiatives.
It’s important that we get these improvements right, so we need your feedback.
your voice matters
Given the incredible complexity of our organ donation and transplantation system and the lives that depend on it, any changes will be made with your thoughtful input and your direct involvement is essential.
You can directly provide feedback on our modernization initiatives by completing the following: This form on HRSA’s website.
We also encourage you to actively participate and continue to play an active role in the ongoing improvement of OPTN policy development. Public comment period Provide feedback on proposed policy changes.
Strengthening the system
UNOS remains committed to providing stability and continuity during this time of change. We also want to ensure that no patient’s journey to health is interrupted during this process. Like all other aspects of the organ donation and transplantation system, UNOS exists for the benefit of patients, donors, and their families.
With much at stake and the promise of important reforms that will improve services for patients and families like you, we are committed to working with you as HRSA moves forward with modernization initiatives and develops the next generation of OPTN contracts. It is very important that our voices are reflected.
Lapointe Roudeau, director of the Living Giving Center at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, serves as chair of the UNOS and OPTN boards of directors.
