Tech

Report: The US organ transplant network is failing with desperate patients


According to a government review, the US network connects donated kidneys, livers and hearts with desperate patients with serious problems and “needs to be extensively restructured”. washington articles. It is said to be based on outdated technology, has been buggy for hours, and has never been federally tested for security or other flaws by federal officials.

The current system has been managed by the Unified Organ Sharing Network (UNOS) for 36 years. That nonprofit is overseen by the Health Resources and Services Administration. About 106,000 people are on the waiting list for organs, most of them looking for a kidney. More than 41,000 organs were transplanted last year, setting a record, but 22 people die every day of waiting, according to the article.

In a review completed 18 months ago, the White House’s US Digital Services Agency recommended that the government “break the current monopoly” held by UNOS. “In order to properly and equitably support the critical needs of these patients, the ecosystem needs to be extensively restructured.” One big bottom line is that the government has never been allowed to inspect the computer code behind the system, as UNOS doesn’t allow it. “The code is incredibly large,” said UNOS CEO Brian Shepherd. “They can come and ask for specific pieces.”

washington articles received a review in draft form as it is not yet finalized. Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, who viewed the report, warned DHS officials that they “did not trust” the security of the network, asking the White House to step in to protect it from attacks. labour. “We ask that you take immediate steps to protect the National Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network system from cyberattacks,” said committee Chairman Ron Wyden and Senator Charles E. Grassley wrote.

The other major issue is that requiring manual input can lead to mistakes or create timing issues for organ matches. “When almost 100% of hospitals use electronic records, the notion that we rely on humans to enter data into the database is crazy. It should be 85 to 95% automatic,” said one former owner. Chairman of the UNOS liver transplant policy committee said Post.

The transplant results were the most frustrating part of the report. In the US by 2020, 21.3% of donated kidneys will not be transplanted, according to one report. This compares with 9.1% in France, 10 to 12% in the UK and 8% in the Eurotransplant consortium of eight EU countries including Germany. “You would hardly think that at least you can’t be better than 5% [in the US]that would be thousands of transplants,” said a former HHS official Post. For more, check out the article here.

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