Chapter 41 - US transplant service – legal and operational framework

Summary

The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) include all hospitals that provide solid organ transplantation as well as all organ procurement organizations (OPOs) and tissue-typing laboratories. The National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) requires that the OPTN be a private, non-profit entity with a Board of Directors to govern the network. The OPTN evaluates member compliance through routine monitoring of data submission and transplant activity, as well as confidential medical peer review of member complaints. UNOS maintains an extensive number of committees made up of transplant professionals, patients, donors, donor family members, and others interested in the OPTN's issues. The OPTN oversees transplant center performance by monitoring center-specific reports provided by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) contractor on a quarterly basis. The OPTN system fulfills that societal responsibility in that every provider of organ transplantation participates in the network under a model of self-governance with federal oversight.