Biden Administration Plans to Break Up Monopoly Power of U.S. Organ Transplant System
By Julia Mueller
On March 22, the Biden administration unveiled a plan to revamp and modernize the U.S. organ transplant system. A set of actions released by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) includes a plan to “foster competition” by soliciting multiple contracts to manage the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. Currently, the only group contracted by the government to operate the system that allocates organs to patients is the nonprofit United Network for Organ Sharing, which has faced criticism over its management. HRSA also plans to issue data dashboards to provide more organ donation information, as well as modernize the agency’s IT system. According to the HRSA, 17 people die every day waiting for a transplant. There were a record number of transplants last year, almost 43,000, but over 104,000 people are on the national transplant list.
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