Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

The Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation (ACOT) met on August 19–20, 2010, in Bethesda, MD, and unanimously agreed on the following recommendation:

Recommendation 51:  The ACOT recommends that the Secretary take steps to ensure the OPTN develops evidence-based allocation policies which are not determined by arbitrary administrative boundaries such as OPO service areas, OPTN regions and state boundaries.

Background
At the August 20, 2010, ACOT meeting, review of liver and kidney transplant allocation statistics in the U.S. once again demonstrates persistent geographic disparities in patient access to transplantation.  ACOT believes that the current status does not comply with the intent of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) Final Rule.  ACOT acknowledges that the OPTN has made efforts to revise the liver allocation policy to achieve broader geographic distribution of deceased donor livers with the goal of reducing mortality on the waitlist and equalizing access to transplantation for individuals most urgently in need of transplantation.  The OPTN must seek to minimize inequities due to arbitrary geographic barriers to distribution.