Audience
- Primary Data Coordinators, Physicians, Program Administrators and Surgeons at heart and lung programs
- Transplant Program Clinical Coordinators, Administrators/Managers, Program Directors, Medical Directors and Surgical Directors at heart and lung programs
- Please share this notice with anyone in your organization who would benefit from this information
Implementation date
Oct. 28, 2020
At-a-glance statement
The following changes to the diagnosis code drop down list in WaitlistSM and the Primary Diagnosis drop down list on TCR and TRR forms in TIEDI® are now available:
- Lung candidates
- COVID-19: ARDS – new diagnosis code
- COVID-19: PULMONARY FIBROSIS – new diagnosis code
- Heart candidates
- COVID-19: DILATED MYOPATHY: ACTIVE MYOCARDITIS – new diagnosis code
- COVID-19: DILATED MYOPATHY: HISTORY OF MYOCARDITIS – new diagnosis code
- DILATED MYOPATHY: VIRAL (NOT COVID-19) – new diagnosis code
- DILATED MYOPATHY: VIRAL has been inactivated and all active candidates using this diagnosis code have been converted to DILATED MYOPATHY: VIRAL (NOT COVID-19)
- Conversion of all actively listed Waitlist candidates with the inactive diagnosis to the new one. Removed candidates are not impacted.
- For patients with the inactivated diagnosis on TIEDI forms, their Primary Diagnosis field are blank. Members entering forms in TIEDI need to select an appropriate code for their patients with viral Dilated Myopathy from one of the three new available codes.
What you need to do
- Transplant hospitals should use the COVID-19 diagnosis codes as appropriate when listing lung and heart candidates or entering information on TCR and TRR TIEDI forms.
- Transplant hospitals should also modify the diagnosis for any patient converted to the new Dilated Myopathy: Viral (Not COVID-19) code in Waitlist who should more accurately be assigned one of the COVID-19 heart diagnosis codes.
Additional details
The purpose of adding these options is to specify when COVID-19 related organ failure is the cause for lung and heart candidate listings.
The initial proposed action, addressing lung candidate diagnoses, was published for special public comment from Aug. 31 through Oct 1. During public comment, the OPTN Heart Transplantation Committee recommended that heart candidate diagnoses be added to those originally proposed for lung candidates. The OPTN Board of Directors approved the proposal during an Oct. 8 conference call.
Having these options available helps to identify trends in these patient populations that could inform future policy changes. This is not expected to have any impact to the lung allocation score calculated for these lung candidates.
Education and resources
Read the policy notice on the OPTN website.
Questions?
If you have questions relating to implementation, contact UNOS Customer Service at [email protected], or call 800-978-4334 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. EDT.
For policy-related questions, contact [email protected].
The UNOS COVID-19 resources page is refreshed regularly with the most current updates and resources. Please check back frequently for updates.
