HHS Lauds Hospitals With Highest Organ Donation Rates

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, October 30, 2008    CONTACT: HRSA PRESS OFFICE
301-443-3376
 
HHS Lauds Hospitals With Highest Organ Donation Rates

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today presented awards to 412 of the nation’s largest hospitals for their success in increasing organ donation rates at their facilities.

Hospital executives, together with their partners in all 58 federally designated organ procurement organizations (OPOs), received the department’s Medal of Honor for Organ Donation for achieving and sustaining a donation rate of 75 percent or more of eligible donors. They were recognized during the Fourth National Learning Congress on Organ Donation and Transplantation held Oct. 23-24 in Nashville, Tennessee.

“For the fourth year, our country’s leading hospitals have made great progress in increasing donation rates,” said Elizabeth M. Duke, administrator of HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the agency that leads the federal government's efforts to increase organ and tissue donation. “Each of these hospitals is deserving of the honor, but I am particularly proud of the 93 hospitals that are earning this medal for the fourth consecutive year.”

The 412 hospitals honored today came from a pool of 716 hospitals that met eligibility criteria. The medal-winning hospitals had eight or more potential organ donors during the 26-month award period ending in May 2008, and sustained a donation rate of 75 percent or more from among eligible donors for at least a year. A total of 631 hospitals have earned the medal since it was created in 2004.

The national increases in organ donation followed HRSA's launch in 2003 of the Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative. The collaborative brings together donation professionals and hospital leaders to identify and share best practices to integrate organ donation into the hospital’s end-of-life continuum of care. Staff from HRSA and the OPOs help participating hospitals identify, adapt, test and implement practices essential to an effective and family-centered donation program.

The success of the collaborative made it possible to transplant 3,905 more organs from deceased donors in 2007 than in 2003. In 2007, 30,530 organs were transplanted during 28,358 organ transplant operations. Of the total number of transplanted organs, 24,217 came from deceased donors (79.3 percent), and 6,313 were from living donors (20.7 percent).

For more information on the Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative, visit www.organdonor.gov.

To see the entire list of HHS Medal of Honor Recipients go to: http://newsroom.hrsa.gov/releases/2008/highdonation.htm


The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), part of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated, or medically vulnerable. For more information about HRSA’s programs, visit www.hrsa.gov.