Sen. Moran Statement on HHS Decision to Overhaul Organ Procurement System

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies – today spoke during a subcommittee hearing after the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced its intent to overhaul the organ procurement and transplantation network (OPTN) contract. During the hearing, Sen. Moran secured a commitment from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra that the department will work to create a more transparent and open process for the OPTN contract.

 

“My former colleague Roy Blunt and I have continually flagged for your department how harmful and unfair your rule is for the Midwest and the South,” said Sen. Moran. “Today’s announcement that the Health Resources and Services Administration is proposing to divide up the OPTN contract and open competition for contracts to new organizations is certainly a step in the right direction. I am hoping that the department is, in my view, taking the life and death battles of Americans, the battles they are facing through the current OPTN system, seriously.”

 

The contract has been held by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) for more than 30 years. In 2018, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) developed a new liver allocation policy that colluded against Midwest and Southern states. As the result of a lawsuit, UNOS was required to publicly release emails in 2021 that revealed clear collusion between UNOS, a New England-area organ procurement organization, and others as they crafted the new liver allocation policy.

Timeline of Sen. Moran’s involvement in ending the UNOS contract:

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