Sponsors (2)
The bill increases transparency and provides a predictable funding stream for the transplant network—potentially improving matching and oversight—but imposes new registration fees and administrative burdens that could raise costs for providers and patients and complicate budgetary control.
Patients on transplant waiting lists and transplant centers gain better planning and matching because a public dashboard will show transplant counts and organ flow, helping centers coordinate placements and potentially improving clinical outcomes.
Patients on waiting lists get greater transparency into transplant system activity and fee practices through a public dashboard and quarterly fee reporting, enabling more informed decisions and accountability.
Authorizing per-candidate registration fees creates a predictable funding stream for HHS-administered transplant network activities and the bill requires a GAO review within two years to provide independent oversight and recommendations to Congress.
Hospitals and transplant centers will incur per-candidate registration fees that increase administrative costs and may be passed on to patients or insurers, raising care costs for people needing transplants.
Treating collected fees as offsetting collections limits Congressional control over spending and introduces budgetary complexity unless appropriations explicitly govern distributions.
Public posting of fees by member could reveal sensitive business information or be misleading without context, potentially harming competition or reputation for transplant centers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes HHS to collect permanent per-candidate OPTN registration fees, requires public fee reporting, and mandates GAO review; also adds a transplant data dashboard consideration and technical edits.
Official title: To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to collect registration fees from members of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, and for other purposes.
Introduced September 10, 2025 by Jim Costa · Last progress September 10, 2025
Makes technical updates to the federal Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) law and creates a permanent fee authority for the OPTN. It adds a requirement that the Network consider a public transplant dashboard, lets HHS collect and retain registration fees from Network members for each transplant candidate placed on the national waiting list (with those fees credited as offsetting collections and available until expended), requires public quarterly reporting of fees and supported activities, and mandates a GAO review and report within two years.