PROFESSIONAL ISSUES

Organ procurement groups had record year

Early referrals from intensive care units helped to drive increases in organ donations.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. Feb. 14, 2005.

According to preliminary estimates, the United States experienced an "absolutely unprecedented" 10.8% increase in organ donations in 2004. The federal government's Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative is being credited for driving that increase.

The 230 hospitals participating in the collaborative, which seeks to identify and copy the practices of the nation's most successful transplant centers, saw increases of about 16% in their donation rates, said Michelle Snyder, associate administrator for the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration's Health Systems Bureau.

"We absolutely believe there is a correlation, if not a direct causation," Snyder said of the collaborative's effect on organ donation rates.

Collaborative director Dennis Wagner said the project is responsible for dramatic increases at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital. Before joining the collaborative, the hospital received donations from 25% of all potential donors -- barely more than half of the national average of 46%. As of September 2004, Wagner said the hospital is now seeing a "conversion rate" of 82%.

"There are lots of examples like that," he said. "There has been improvement at hundreds of hospitals."

The improvement has not just come from boosting hospitals that were struggling with low numbers. Three organ procurement organizations with traditionally high numbers had their biggest years ever in 2004.

Philadelphia-based Gift of Life, which consistently receives more donated organs than any other OPO, reported that 1,131 people received organs from 387 donors in 2004, a 13% increase from 2003.

[...]

Full text of AMNews content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.

Access details

Join the AMA