Providing every living kidney donor with life, health and disability insurance

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Providing every living kidney donor with life, health and disability insurance coverage:
Why it is affordable; is beneficial for the donor and the transplant program; and the right thing to do!

Webinar: Thursday, December 17, 2009

3:00 � 4:30 p.m. Eastern time 2:00 � 3:30 p.m. Central time

1:00 � 2:30 p.m. Mountain time 12:00 � 1:30 p.m. Pacific time

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Speakers

*Tom McCune, MD, Living Organ Donor Network (LODN), Associate Professor of Clinical Internal Medicine, Chair, Division of Nephrology, Medical College of Hampton Roads, Norfolk, VA

*Brad Hepp, CPU, ARM, National Bone Marrow Registry, Risk Adjustment Consultant, RJF Agencies, Minneapolis, MN

*Gigi Spicer, RN, Director, Transplant Services, Virginia Transplant Center at Henrico Doctor�s Hospital, Richmond, VA

*Representative, National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) Q&A only

*Jim Warren, Editor & Publisher, Transplant News - Moderator

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Over the past 18 months the nation�s transplant centers have come under increasing pressure to provide more support for living kidney donors in a variety of ways. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has let it be known that follow-up of the living kidney donor is a high priority and UNOS Kidney Committee is in the process of developing new guidelines which transplant programs will be required to follow. The Living Organ Donor Network (LODN) is currently expanding its insurance network to be available to every transplant program in the US.

Issues that will be discussed include:

*UNOS has already mandated that transplant centers must have a two-year follow-up policy of all living kidney donors in place and additional requirements are certain to follow. UNOS has recognized that transplant centers that use the LODN follow-up have the highest response rates on donor follow-up forms.

*The Declaration of Istanbul, which has been endorsed by more than 80 professional organizations and societies, states that �transplant professionals must ensure medical and psychological care for short and long term complications of donation.� The declaration also states that there should be provisions for disability and life insurance for the donor and their family.

*Participation in the living donor insurance program can improve the donor�s benefits while lowering the costs to your transplant program.

*Living kidney donation has been going down in the past two years. Donors that are aggressive in their desire to donate are being exhausted and may be concerned by their family�s well-being which impacts their willingness to donate. One way to address that concern is to do everything possible to relive the economic concerns of the donors.

*Specifics of how the LODN program has helped the Virginia Transplant Center at Henrico Doctor�s Hospital in Richmond. For example, the disability insurance has been used for the patient who is out of work due to pancreatitis.

*The NMDP donor insurance program has been in place for 20-years. The lessons learned by the organization will help insure a your transplant program implement the insurance system without any unforeseen problems.

In short, the time has come for every transplant program to provide living kidney donors with health and disability insurance. The Living Organ Donor Network (LODN) has initiated a national campaign to get more transplant programs to participate in its very affordable insurance program that benefits both the living kidney donor and the transplant program. For example: The total cost of the insurance is a one-time cost of $550. This one-time fee includes: *life-time coverage; *Coverage of costs of long-term donor follow-up which is mandated by UNOS; *A $500,000 accidental death benefit *Up to $250,000 in excess medical coverage; Up to a $50,000 benefit for mental health counseling; *Disability income coverage for up to two years; and an additional accidental death benefit for a live kidney donor�s travel companion.

Our expert panel will thoroughly cover all aspects of the program and answer any your questions during the 30-minute Q&A session that will following their presentations. A representative from the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), which has administered a very successful donor insurance program for the past 20-years, will also be available to answer questions.

What you learn:

*The benefits of the insurance program to the donor and to your institution.

*How the data is collected and processed.

*How to monitor patient response for (1) patient satisfaction; complications; financial issues, quality of life issues.

*How insurance is used to cover disability for patient out of work due to pancreatic.

*How participation can improve benefits and while lowering the transplant center costs.

*How the insurance and registry meets donor follow-up mandated by UNOS.

*Why the cost is reasonable and it is the right thing to do for the transplant center to do for the living donor!

*How the insurance program impacts the transplant center when it is being audited.