The nonprofit group that manages the complex national system for assigning organs to transplant patients has issued a two-week extension to a major company at risk of losing access to its database, avoiding at least for now a potential cutoff of the flow of lifesaving organs that could have begun as early as Wednesday.
The United Network for Organ Sharing has given Buckeye Transplant Services until July 19 to comply with its demands on use of transplant data. The extension offers a reprieve to the 63 hospitals and transplant centers that rely on Buckeye to evaluate the suitability of organs for potential recipients. Nathan Kottkamp, an attorney for UNOS, wrote to lawyers for Buckeye this week to notify the company of the extension, according to a copy of an email shared with The Washington Post.
UNOS has threatened to cut off Buckeye from its database, asserting that the company uses an automated tool to retrieve unauthorized data from its network. Without access to the national system used to offer and accept hearts, livers and other vital organs from deceased donors, known as DonorNet, the company would effectively be out of business.
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A spokesman for Buckeye did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. UNOS also did not respond to a request for comment. Buckeye sued Richmond-based UNOS in federal court on Monday seeking an injunction that would stop the nonprofit group from blocking its access to the national transplant database system.
Buckeye, which has 180 employees, said it is the largest organ-screening company in the United States. The company said it evaluated 280,000 organ offers in 2022 and was involved in 5,900 organ transplants. Doctors performed a record of nearly 43,000 transplants in the United States last year at some 250 facilities across the country, according to UNOS.
Dispute threatens to disrupt flow of transplant organs to patients
Medical experts disagree about the potential impact of UNOS taking away access from Buckeye. The research hospitals that perform the complex transplant procedures, such as Duke, Stanford and the University of California at San Francisco, would need to find another way to screen organs and arrange for their swift transportation to potential recipients.
The Health Resources and Services Administration, which oversees the national transplant network, has distanced itself from the dispute between UNOS and Buckeye. Elana Ross, a spokeswoman for HRSA, said the federal agency would intervene in the matter if transplant surgeries were affected.
HRSA unveiled plans in March to overhaul the transplant system, including changes to the 37-year monopoly UNOS has held as manager of the organ database. Nearly 104,000 people are on the waiting list for vital organs, and around 22 of them die each day. In some instances, organs are discarded, damaged in transit or not collected, and providers rarely face consequences for mistakes that can have life-or-death consequences for possible recipients.
Buckeye is potentially interested in bidding for a part of the contract UNOS now holds, according to company representatives. Its lawsuit contents that UNOS “has monopolistic intent to squash the development of technology that could eventually supplant” the UNOS transplant system.
The number of organs potentially available to recipients has increased in recent years as a result of improvements to technology and transit practices. It has placed an additional burden on the screeners responsible for identifying the relatively small number of organs suitable for specific patients, experts said.
The United Network for Organ Sharing has given Buckeye Transplant Services until July 19 to comply with its demands on use of transplant data. The extension offers a reprieve to the 63 hospitals and transplant centers that rely on Buckeye to evaluate the suitability of organs for potential recipients. Nathan Kottkamp, an attorney for UNOS, wrote to lawyers for Buckeye this week to notify the company of the extension, according to a copy of an email shared with The Washington Post.
UNOS has threatened to cut off Buckeye from its database, asserting that the company uses an automated tool to retrieve unauthorized data from its network. Without access to the national system used to offer and accept hearts, livers and other vital organs from deceased donors, known as DonorNet, the company would effectively be out of business.
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A spokesman for Buckeye did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. UNOS also did not respond to a request for comment. Buckeye sued Richmond-based UNOS in federal court on Monday seeking an injunction that would stop the nonprofit group from blocking its access to the national transplant database system.
Buckeye, which has 180 employees, said it is the largest organ-screening company in the United States. The company said it evaluated 280,000 organ offers in 2022 and was involved in 5,900 organ transplants. Doctors performed a record of nearly 43,000 transplants in the United States last year at some 250 facilities across the country, according to UNOS.
Dispute threatens to disrupt flow of transplant organs to patients
Medical experts disagree about the potential impact of UNOS taking away access from Buckeye. The research hospitals that perform the complex transplant procedures, such as Duke, Stanford and the University of California at San Francisco, would need to find another way to screen organs and arrange for their swift transportation to potential recipients.
The Health Resources and Services Administration, which oversees the national transplant network, has distanced itself from the dispute between UNOS and Buckeye. Elana Ross, a spokeswoman for HRSA, said the federal agency would intervene in the matter if transplant surgeries were affected.
HRSA unveiled plans in March to overhaul the transplant system, including changes to the 37-year monopoly UNOS has held as manager of the organ database. Nearly 104,000 people are on the waiting list for vital organs, and around 22 of them die each day. In some instances, organs are discarded, damaged in transit or not collected, and providers rarely face consequences for mistakes that can have life-or-death consequences for possible recipients.
Buckeye is potentially interested in bidding for a part of the contract UNOS now holds, according to company representatives. Its lawsuit contents that UNOS “has monopolistic intent to squash the development of technology that could eventually supplant” the UNOS transplant system.
The number of organs potentially available to recipients has increased in recent years as a result of improvements to technology and transit practices. It has placed an additional burden on the screeners responsible for identifying the relatively small number of organs suitable for specific patients, experts said.
