Public comment is an essential part of the policy development process that occurs twice each year. The OPTN policy development process incorporates public comment feedback on policy and bylaws proposals before they go to the OPTN board of directors for approval. All interested individuals are welcome to participate, especially transplant candidates, who are most affected by policies. Transplant professionals are encouraged to provide comment about potential financial impact a proposal could have on their organization.

To encourage public participation and promote transparency, this site publishes submitted comments.

1

Gather ideas

2

Develop proposals

3

Public comment

4

Finalize and approve

5

Implement and evaluate

OPTN Standards for Public Comment

• Be respectful. Personal attacks, profanity, and aggressive behavior are prohibited. Instigating arguments in a disrespectful way is also prohibited.
• No patient identified, peer review privileged, or other confidential information
• No vulgar, obscene, or profane language, or “hate speech,” which is defined as language intended to foster hatred against individuals or groups based on race, religion, gender, sexual preference, place of national origin, or other improper classification
• No language that would violate the law if published
• No suggestion or encouragement of illegal activity
• No seeking of medical advice
• No solicitations or comments that promote a particular service or product. This includes solicitations for commercial activity within ANY industry, transplant-related or not. This does not include solicitation of support for or against a specific OPTN proposal.

Any solicitations for directed organ donation to a specific individual will not be posted.