A study report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) is calling attention to what it calls an “inequitable” system of organ donation and transplantation in the U.S.
As of November 2022, the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) reports more than 105,000 people across the U.S. are on the waiting list for organs, and each day, approximately 17 of those people die waiting for their lifesaving transplant. In a news release, NASEM adds people of color and those with disabilities are particularly disadvantaged in receiving a transplant. For example, according to the National Kidney Foundation, Black Americans are three times more likely to suffer from kidney failure than white Americans, but they are substantially less likely to be placed on the waiting list or ultimately get an organ transplant.
The NASEM report recommends taking action across the system to drive performance and save more lives. Its near-term suggestions include:
- Establishing time-bound performance goals for the transplantation system that include reducing nonuse rates for donated kidneys.
- Setting goals to increase organ donation, procurement, transplantation and organ acceptance.
MediGO provides OPOs and transplant centers with easy-to-use software solutions that directly address these recommendations to increase equity and access, as well as reducing nonuse of donated organs.
MediGO’s flagship product, OPO Delivery Management (ODM), provides real-time tracking and predictive estimated times of arrival for organ and tissue shipments. OPOs using ODM have access to critical information, such as better and alternative travel routes, which can help reroute couriers and decrease an organ’s transportation time.
This is impactful because reduced travel time lowers an organ’s cold ischemic time (CIT), or the time an organ is without blood circulation, which in turn, reduces nonuse of donated organs and improves transplant outcomes. The NASEM report notes nearly 20% of deceased donor kidneys are discarded in the U.S. every year, and the predominant reason for this is that the CIT exceeds a surgeon’s requirement once the organ arrives at its destination for transplant.
Additionally, MediGO’s latest software solutions, Organ TeamLink™ and Recovery TeamLink™, are the first products on the market to focus on optimizing donor referral and recovery response to increase the supply of organs for transplant.
These solutions help OPOs and transplant centers visualize the location and availability status of procurement and recovery team members in the field to confidently ensure team members arrive in time for key events, such as family conversations, brain death testing and donor management – the timing of which is critical to improving donor authorization and allocation rates. Organ TeamLink also helps OPOs dispatch teams more evenly across their designated service areas to increase equity in the transplant process.
In partnership with OPOs and transplant centers, MediGO’s innovations are improving fairness and equity, reducing nonuse of donated organs, and saving more lives. Learn more and request a demo of MediGO’s solutions at gomedigo.io.