DHS Takes Over OPTN to Address Inequity and Inefficiency in Organ Transplants

On March 27, 2024, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an arm of  DHS, notified the current President of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) that it was setting up a new independent Board of Directors. This is the first concrete step in the OPTN Modernization Initiative that was announced in March 2023.

OPTN has been operated by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). In recent years, the equity, efficiency, and robustness of OPTN has been coming under scrutiny, including being a featured story on HBO’s Last Week Tonight in December. (Watch it here.)

Once the independent board takes over, the next step in the OPTN Modernization Initiative is to oversee a competitive bidding process to improve how the system is administered. The Modernization Initiative is focused on improving technology, transparency, governance, quality, and innovation of the organ transplantation process.  The goal is to create new data requirements for waitlist and organ procurement that will address inequities and reduce racial and ethnic variation.

This transition will take years but will radically overhaul the transplantation process and should expand the system’s capacity to efficiently source and match organs with patients in need. 

Follow the progress of the OPTN Modernization Initiative at the HRSA’s website.