Forum weighs input on new kidney allocation concept

Published on: Thursday, February 8, 2007

Dallas -- The OPTN/UNOS kidney transplantation committee is considering a number of ways to modify kidney allocation to best match available kidneys to tens of thousands of candidates in need. Among the factors highlighted for discussion is the concept of matching kidneys to candidates based on their life years from transplant.

More than 300 people attended (live or by teleconference) a public forum February 8 in Dallas, hosted by the committee, to gather views from transplant patient advocates, the public and transplant professionals. Committee members presented the progress that has resulted from their two-year review of the status of kidney donation and transplantation. Presentation topics during yesterday's forum included details of why the current policy needs to be changed, the basis for statistical modeling of the concept of life years from transplant, initial results demonstrated by the models and ethical considerations that must be considered. The forum also included question and answer sessions, public testimony from transplant professionals and patients, and a structured process by which all attendees could present their feedback to the committee. The committee will utilize this feedback as it moves forward to develop a proposal.

Public input is vital to the policy development process. The committee met Feb. 9 to review input from the forum. They will continue to consider what will be included in an eventual new kidney allocation policy proposal.

Once a formal policy proposal is developed, it will be posted with a request for public comments on the OPTN and UNOS web sites (www.optn.org and www.unos.org). Currently plans include two separate 60-day public comment periods, and another public forum will be held to gather feedback. The Kidney Committee will consider all feedback and make any necessary modifications before submitting any policy proposal to the OPTN/UNOS Board of Directors for consideration.

The committee will continue to post updated information on this site as they proceed through the policy development process.