US proposes new rules to increase organ transplants

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States government is overhauling parts of the nation’s transplant system to make sure organs from the dead no longer go to waste — and to make it easier for the living to donate.

The rules proposed Tuesday aim to ease an organ shortage so severe that more than 113,000 Americans linger on the transplant waiting list — and about 20 die each day.

Part of the reason: An Associated Press analysis recently found some of the groups that collect organs at death secure donors at half the rate of others, missed opportunities that could have saved lives.

But the government currently has little way to directly compare organ collection agencies and force poor performers to improve.

“No life-saving organ should go to waste,” Medicare chief Seema Verma said in announcing stricter standards to hold those agencies more accountable.

At the same time, the administration also aims to spur more living donors by allowing them to be reimbursed for lost wages and child care or elder care expenses incurred during their hospitalisation and recovery.

“When an American wishes to become a living donor, we don’t believe their financial situation should limit their generosity,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, whose father received a kidney transplant from a living donor.

The rules come after President Donald Trump in July ordered a revamping of care for kidney disease, including spurring transplants of kidneys and other organs.

The proposals are open for public comment for 60 days.

Transplant advocates praised the move.

“Patients are dying, and they deserve better,” Jennifer Erickson, a former Obama administration staffer who worked on transplant policy, said of the crackdown on “organ procurement organisations,” or OPOs.

And the association that represents those organ collection groups pledged to work with Medicare, which regulates the nonprofits, to implement the tougher standards.

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