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Notice of Implementation: Expedited Liver Placement policy

Mar 25, 2021 | Liver/intestine, News, Policy changes, UNet℠ system changes

Notice of Implementation: Expedited Liver Placement policy

Audience

Organ Procurement Organization (OPO)

    • Primary OPO Administrative Directors, Primary Data Coordinators
    • Organ Procurement Adms/Mgrs, Regulatory Affairs Coordinators/Managers, Compliance Officers, Data Coordinators, OPO Quality Managers/Coordinators, Quality Coordinators, Quality Directors/Managers, Organ Placement Coordinators, Organ Procurement Coordinators, Organ Procurement Adms/Mgrs

Transplant center (TXC)

    • Liver Primary Program Administrators, Primary Data Coordinators, Primary Physicians, Primary Surgeons
    • Liver TX Program Administrators/Managers, TX Program Directors, TX Program Medical Directors, Clinical Training Coordinators/Managers, TX Program – Clinical Coordinators, Support Staff-Clinical, Data Coordinators, Regulatory Affairs Coordinators/Managers, Compliance Officers, Quality Directors/Managers, Quality Coordinators, TX Program Surgical Directors, TX Surgeons

Implementation date


March 25, 2021

 

At-a-glance

To clarify expedited placement surrounding deceased donor whole livers, this release gives clarity surrounding how to place these organs when late turndowns occur, provide guidance for organ procurement organizations (OPOs) and transplant hospitals (TXC) when there is a need to utilize expedited placement, and provide a consistent process which can be practiced across the country and regulated by policy.  The policy was implemented March 25, 2021.

 

What you need to do

 

  • OPO
    • Staff may begin utilizing the expedited liver placement process. See the education and resources provided below to aid in this.
    • Start deciding when to initiate expedited placement on deceased donor livers when appropriate according to associated policy 9.10.B.
    • Report data to the OPTN within the workflow wizard in accordance with policy 9.10.B prior to sending expedited liver offers.
    • Enforce the new 30-minute evaluation time limit for expedited offers by applying a bypass to the transplant hospitals that have exceeded this time limit.

 

  • TXC
    • Continue updating Contact Management in DonorNet® with on call contacts to receive expedited organ offer notifications.
    • Continue evaluating liver candidates on a candidate-by-candidate basis to receive expedited liver organ offers.
    • Begin managing expedited organ offer notifications, this includes adhering to the new 30-minute evaluation time limit for expedited offers received.
    • See previous system notice for more information on the above details.

 

Additional details

Phase 1 implementation was released Feb. 25, 2021, and was intended to give transplant hospitals one month to complete the tasks listed in the previous notice.  This release, Phase 2, is the final release for this implementation. It gives OPOs the tools they need to initiate expedited liver offers. Both OPO staff and transplant hospital staff should be prepared to utilize these tools and respond to these offers respectively.

 

Education and resources

  • Look for the following course in UNOS Connect, accessible to UNetSM users through the resources tab on the Secure Enterprise (UNet) homepage.
    • SYS164: Expedited Liver Placement for OPOs and transplant hospitals – an interactive module with the following additional resources
      • Opting in job aid
      • System related FAQ (also found in DonorNet Online Help)
  • OPTN policy notice: Expedited Liver Placement
  • Toolkit: Expedited Liver Placement
  • Online help documentation covering UNet functionality available now. Access Secure Enterprise and then choose either WaitlistSM or DonorNet. On the Help menu, click Online Help. You may search for a specific help topic or use the table of contents to assist with your search.
  • Use our supported browsers to optimize functionality on the UNet system. Prepare for UNet to stop supporting the Internet Explorer web browser on Sept. 30, 2021. An email with more information was sent to UNet users and posted to Secure Enterprise on Nov. 30, 2020.

 

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. ET.

For policy-related questions, contact [email protected].

 

 

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