WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), chair of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care, joined Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), and other committee members for a hearing titled, “The Cost of Inaction and the Urgent Need to Reform the U.S. Transplant System,” today to shed light on the failures of our nation’s organ transplant and the need to pass the Securing the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) Act.
Since its creation in 1984, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) has had an exclusive contract as the United States’ only organ transplant system. However, recent investigations have shown a lack of oversight at UNOS, with organs getting damaged or going missing in transit and a lack of transparency and communication with patients on the waiting list.
“Senators Wyden, Grassley, Young, and I have been leading the Senate Finance Committee’s investigation into the organ transplant system network for over three years, and each new line of inquiry has exposed more and more failures which are often born by the sickest patients in the nation,” said Senator Cardin. “Specifically, our Committee has uncovered transportation and testing failures that have put patient lives at risk, outdated information technology underlying the network, a lack of oversight by the current Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) contractor, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), and misuse of Medicare funds. We demand better, and we will not stop until we make it so.”
“We can’t continue to allow thousands of Americans to die each year waiting for lifesaving organs that we know are available if only this system were being managed by competent individuals operating in the light of day,” said Senator Young. “A functional organ donation system could facilitate tens of thousands more organ transplants every year,” said Senator Young. “I won’t stop working on this issue until we increase the availability of organs for patients in need and eliminate the inefficiencies occurring in our organ donation system.”
The Securing the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) Act, S. 1668, would remove barriers in OPTN contracting and give the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) statutory authority to improve management and allow for other accredited medical organizations to develop transplant networks.
The full hearing can be viewed at this link.
For Senator Cardin’s full statement, click here.
