OPTN Policies and Reports

To address the Nation's critical organ donation shortage and improve the organ matching and placement process, the U.S. Congress passed the National Organ Transplant Act* in 1984. The act established the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) to maintain a national registry for organ matching. The act also called for the network to be operated by a private, nonprofit organization under Federal contract. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), based in Richmond, VA, administers the OPTN under contract with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). OPTN committees and the OPTN board of directors develop policies and the UNOS, is responsible for coordinating committee and board actions.

The OPTN helps ensure the success and efficiency of the U.S. organ transplant system. OPTN responsibilities include facilitating the organ matching and placement process through the use of the computer system and a fully staffed Organ Center operating 24 hours a day; developing consensus-based policies and procedures for organ recovery, distribution (allocation), and transportation; collecting and managing scientific data about organ donation and transplantation; providing data to the government, the public, students, researchers, and the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients for use in the ongoing quest for improvement in the field of solid organ allocation and transplantation; developing (1999) and maintaining a secure, Web-based computer system, which maintains the Nation's organ transplant waiting list and recipient/donor organ characteristics; and providing professional and public education about donation and transplantation, the activities of the OPTN, and the critical need for donation.

Under Federal law, all U.S. transplant centers and organ procurement organizations must be members of the OPTN to receive any funds through Medicare. Other members of the OPTN include independent histocompatibility laboratories involved in organ transplantation; relevant medical, scientific, and professional organizations; relevant voluntary health and patient advocacy organizations; and members of the general public with a particular interest in donation and/or transplantation.

The OPTN policies and bylaws govern the procedural aspects of policy development, allocation of donated organs, and the collection of transplant data nationwide. The public is included in the process through solicitation of feedback via the public comment process.

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Information about the OPTN's functions and responsibilities, contract and grant provisions, and other statutes pertaining to the OPTN are contained in Title 42, United States Code (USC), beginning at Section 273.

* P.L. 98-507