How UNOS uses data to help transplant programs improve

Data is powerful

With analysis, data can reveal trends and lead to a greater understanding of what factors may cause a certain health condition or what could provide a potential treatment. At UNOS, our analytics and research team use organ donation and transplant data to determine key trends and identify ways the system could more efficiently help people get a lifesaving transplant.

We deliver these insights to donation and transplant professionals to help improve patient outcomes and enhance performance improvement initiatives.

To access this information, UNOS submits data requests to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), which has data on transplant recipients, candidates and organ donors.

How do data requests work?

Any individual or OPTN member can submit a data request by filling out the form on the OPTN website. Different datasets are available depending on the requester’s needs. Once the data request is filed, the contractor supporting the OPTN will reach out to ask any questions and coordinate delivery and payment, as well as proper approvals from the government, when applicable.

Even as an OPTN contractor, UNOS follows the same steps as everyone else to request data for our industry leading transplant research and data analytic tools. Click below to read more about how UNOS tools can help donation and transplant professionals analyze and understand OPTN data better to enhance their work.

Read more about UNOS tools