October 17, 2024

HRSA Announces Overhaul of OPTN Board of Directors

In September, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced the overhaul of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) – the governing board that develops national organ allocation policy.

The OPTN Board is now separately incorporated and independent from the Board of long-time OPTN contractor, the United Network for Organ Sharing. HRSA has awarded an OPTN Board Support contract to American Institutes for Research to support the newly incorporated OPTN Board of Directors.

These critical actions to better serve patients by breaking up the monopoly that ran the nation’s organ allocation system are part of the OPTN modernization plan announced by HRSA in March 2023. Prior to these steps, the national body responsible for developing organ allocation policy for the country, the OPTN and the corporate entity contracted to implement the policy UNOS, shared the exact same Board or Directors.

The new board support contractor will be accountable to HRSA and will organize a special election for a new OPTN Board of Directors with a focus on eliminating conflicts of interest and ensuring that data, evidence, and the voices of clinical leaders, scientific experts, patients, and donor families are driving action and accountability. Moving forward, no member of the OPTN Board can sit on an OPTN vendor’s board of directors.

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October 17, 2024

HRSA Takes Historic Steps to Modernize the Nation’s Organ Transplant System

On September 19, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced the first-ever multi-vendor contract awards to modernize the nation’s organ transplant system.

For the first time in 40 years, multiple contractors will contribute their expertise and experience to improve the national organ donation and transplant system for the more than 100,000 people on the organ transplant waitlist.

The transition from a single vendor to multiple vendors to support operations of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) is a critical step in advancing innovation in the transplant system to better serve patients and their families.

HRSA is announcing multiple OPTN modernization awards to support critical actions including:

• Improving patient safety
  • Arbor Research Collaborative for Health will provide support on patient safety and the policy compliance systems and processes overseen by the OPTN Board of Directors and the Membership and Professional Standards Committee to improve oversight of the multiple entities in the OPTN.
• Supporting OPTN IT Modernization
  • General Dynamic Information Technology (CDIT) will focus on the opportunities to improve the OPTN organ matching IT system and inform HRSA’s Next Generation IT procurement and development work.
• Increasing Transparency and Public Engagement in OPTN Policy Development
  • Maximus Federal will advance opportunities to improve public visibility and engagement in the OPTN policy making process, including improving transparency around OPTN policy making committees’ deliberations and actions.
• Strengthening Patient-Centered Communications
  • Deloitte will focus on improvements in communications from the OPTN, within the OPTN and, importantly, with patients and families.
• Improving OPTN Financial Management
  • Guidehouse Digital will address improvements for OPTN’s budget development and management systems and processes.

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October 4, 2024

Rural Health Research – Health Care Affordability and Medical Debt: Differences by Rurality, Region, and Socio Demographic Characteristics

The high cost of health care affects health at both the individual and population level, and rural residents experience inequities in health, access to care, and financial well-being. However, little research has examined how health care affordability differs by rural/urban residence, and how health care affordability varies along geographic and socio-demographic dimensions within rural areas.

This policy brief examines rural/urban differences in rates of health care (un)affordability, as well as among rural residents by key socio-demographic characteristics.

Among key findings in this policy brief from the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center:

• Health care affordability and medical debt issues differed significantly among rural residents by race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, income, and type of health insurance.
• Rural residents in the Western U.S. were more likely to be able to pay their medical bills than rural residents in the Northeast, North Central/Midwest, or Southern U.S.

Click Here to Read this Brief