OPTN Board approves updates to bylaws, new procedures for OPTN computer system access
Published on: Monday, December 9, 2024
Detroit - The Board of Directors of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), at its meeting Dec. 2-3, approved revisions to OPTN Bylaws to support the recent establishment of the Board as an entity independent of any OPTN contractor. The previous set of OPTN Bylaws have been restructured into two components to create greater clarity among the OPTN’s responsibilities:
- OPTN Bylaws, addressing the OPTN governance structure
- OPTN Management and Membership Policies, addressing the requirements and standards for OPTN members
OPTN computer system access
The Board also adopted updates to information security requirements to access the OPTN computer system. The changes are intended to provide consistency in computer system access while enhancing the security and safety of patient data. Among the new requirements, all member organizations who have system interconnections to the OPTN computer system must develop an interconnection security agreement with the OPTN. In addition, OPTN business members who access the system must follow the same information security requirements that apply to other member types, and any business entity seeking access to the system must become an OPTN business member.
Other actions
The Board took additional actions as follows:
- Approved a set of changes intended to promote efficiency of required medical testing for lung donors
- Accepted new and updated membership criteria for histocompatibility laboratories
- Required reporting to the OPTN of critical discrepancies in human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing and updated the definition of a critical discrepancy, as well as requiring the reporting of certain histocompatibility typing errors
Discussion items
The Board also heard and discussed status updates on significant and ongoing OPTN initiatives, including:
- The ongoing work of the OPTN Expeditious Task Force to increase organ usage
- The status of organ allocation systems in development, based on the continuous distribution framework
- Ongoing work of the OPTN Membership and Professional Standards Committee to assess and improve its review of OPTN members for quality and patient safety