Sponsors (2)
The bill aims to speed and improve organ matching and transplant outcomes through better EHR data sharing and dedicated fee-funded technology, at the trade-off of shifting costs onto providers (especially smaller/rural centers), raising privacy concerns, and creating short-term funding uncertainty.
Patients waiting for transplants and transplant centers: automated EHR referrals, remote EHR access, and a real-time transplant dashboard will speed donor identification and organ placement, likely shortening wait times and improving outcomes.
Hospitals, OPOs, and transplant centers: temporary registration fees create a dedicated funding stream to support Network operations and technology improvements needed to implement the new data-sharing tools.
Hospitals, Network members, and the public: quarterly reporting on fee use plus a GAO review within two years increases transparency and congressional oversight of how registration fees are spent.
Hospitals and transplant centers: per-candidate registration fees (credited as discretionary offsetting collections) raise operating costs and shift more program costs onto providers rather than congressional appropriations, reducing budgetary transparency for taxpayers.
Smaller, lower-volume, or rural hospitals and OPOs: per-candidate fees may impose a disproportionate financial burden that could strain resources at these centers.
Patients and donor hospitals: permitting remote EHR access (even if HIPAA-consistent) raises privacy and security concerns about broader access to donor hospital records and potential risks to patient data.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Allows OPTN to temporarily collect per-candidate registration fees, requires public reporting and GAO review, and adds duties to encourage EHR integration and a transplant dashboard.
Authorizes a temporary fee authority for the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) so the Secretary of HHS may collect per-transplant-candidate registration fees from Network members to support OPTN operations, with required public reporting and a GAO review; the fee authority expires three years after enactment. Also updates OPTN duties to encourage electronic health record (EHR) integration and automated electronic referrals, permit remote electronic access to potential-donor hospital EHRs consistent with HIPAA, and directs the Network to consider a frequently updated transplant dashboard; it makes minor punctuation/formatting edits and clarifies "24-hour" contact services to include information technology services.
Introduced February 12, 2025 by Charles Ernest Grassley · Last progress February 12, 2025