Effective practices
Improving the system together
Learn about OPTN Collaborative Improvement Projects, and find tools and learning resources that are helping to make the system stronger.
DCD Lung Transplant
DCD Procurement
Offer Acceptance
Tools and news
Collaborative learning
OPTN DCD Lung Transplant Collaborative
More lives saved through collaborative improvement process
Project aim: An eight-month collaborative improvement project focused on increasing lung transplants from donation after circulatory death (DCD) donors.
Participating programs focused on optimizing internal program processes as well as strengthening collaboration with OPOs.
Resources and more about the collaborative improvement project
Resources:
- NewExecutive Report
- Recorded sessions playlist from the Learning Congress can be accessed in UNOS Connect.
- Summary from the Learning Congress
- Improvement guide with recommended strategies
More about the collaborative
- Read about the OPTN DCD Lung Transplant Collaborative
- Read about the Learning Congress
Jaclyn Russe, OPO professional: “It’s so good to look back at what we did well, but also at what we could improve.”
Amanda Rooney, Duke University: “We have been able to talk with each other, to learn from each other, and to see what others are doing.”
Adriana Kocki, Inova Fairfax Hospital: “We all have a shared goal, and we all have an impact on both donation and transplant.”
Sravanthi Nandavaram, University of Kentucky Medical Center: “The Collaborative helped us collaborate with other lung transplant centers who have been doing this for a while.”
Collaborative learning
OPTN DCD Procurement Collaborative
Project aim: To support efforts to increase deceased donor organs available for transplant by identifying and sharing effective practices regarding approaches to donation after circulatory death (DCD) procurement.
This project involved two successive cohorts of organ procurement organizations (OPOs), and concluded with a Learning Congress that was open to the entire OPO community.
UpdatedRead about impacts from the OPTN collaborative
Explore OPTN Learning Congress session recordings in UNOS Connect
Collaborative learning
Offer Acceptance Collaborative
Videos: OPTN members highlight benefits and opportunities at the Offer Acceptance Collaborative Improvement kickoff.
Members: Watch presentations from the kickoff (CEPTCs available): Search for OPTN Offer Acceptance Collaborative Playlist within UNOS Connect
Dianne LaPointe Rudow, DNP, President, UNOS Board of Directors, discusses how collaborative improvement will help the system reach the next million transplants.
Ryutaro Hirose, M.D., Surgical Medical Director, Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR), discusses the benefits of working together to make the system stronger.
Amit Mathur, M.D., Transplant and Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary surgeon at Mayo Clinic, AZ, discusses how collaborative improvement will help “bring the best practices forward” from the nation’s more than 700 transplant programs.
Collaborative Improvement (CI) initiatives:
Quality-focused efforts designed to bring organizations and teams together to work on a shared improvement goal.
The OPTN designs these projects so members can share effective practices, accelerating progress and improvement in the donation and transplant system. Learn about all projects
Resources and news
Community connections
Partners for improvement
Collaborative Improvement
Collaborative Improvement (CI) initiatives are quality-focused efforts designed to bring organizations and teams together to work on a shared improvement goal. Learn about current and past projects
Individual Member Focused Improvement
The OPTN developed Individual Member Focused Improvement (IMFI) to:
- Help individual OPTN members improve through the use of quality improvement tools
- Deliver custom-designed engagements that fit each member’s unique needs
- Provide individualized improvement coaching to members
Collaborative research: UNOS Labs and SimUNet
UNOS Labs is a transformational collaborative research center that combines our industry expertise with data and technology to solve the most pressing challenges in the transplant system.
For donation and transplant professionals who want to increase transplant, SimUNet simulations offer a way to experiment with how different ways of displaying information (and how different types of information) can affect decision making.
Training and events
UNOS Connect for professional learning
UNOS Connect
Find educational offerings focusing on effective practices, system updates (UNetSM) and policy changes. Learn more about UNOS Connect.
Annual education events
- UNOS Primer, held at UNOS headquarters, helps attendees learn UNOS’s functions and structures, how the member quality department assists OPTN members and facilitates the OPTN peer-review process, the OPTN policy development process and how to best use UNetSM applications.
- Transplant Management Forum, or TMF, is an annual educational event to increase collaboration and grow your knowledge of operations, finances and strategies. Learn why transplant administrators find this annual conference so valuable.
Tools and data
Toolkits and resources
Find guidance documents, organ-specific policies, organ allocation calculators, and related educational resources.
Understand data for informed decisions
Performance improvement data tools for UNOS members
A suite of data and research analytic services to provide you the most accurate data you need for making decisions, meeting regulatory requirements, and having successful quality assurance and performance improvement initiatives.
Increase your efficiency
Helping more kidney patients, faster: Offer filters
New data analytics tools help hospitals understand acceptance patterns and refine them — so organs are transplanted faster. Learn about Offer Filters.
APIs: Seamlessly exchange data with DonorNet®, TIEDI® and WaitlistSM
Share vital data faster—no matter your job title or expertise with technology. We’re here to help. Learn about available APIs.
Collaboration and education news
TMF 2025 speaker Ankit Mathur on AI in Transplant and OPO Operations
By gaining a better understanding of data analytics, predictive data models and AI technologies in organ transplantation, we can foster more thoughtful and informed conversations about the possibilities they offer moving forward.
TMF 2025 speaker Laura Butler on Collaborative Leadership in Transplantation
Collaboration between clinical, business and regulatory roles is essential to building transplant programs that prioritize patient care and outcomes. Having lived on both sides of transplant care, I’m passionate about sharing the lessons I’ve learned.
TMF 2025 presenters Geatrakas and Socci on Creating a Healthy Relationship between transplant staff and the C-Suite
"Building strong relationships with the C-suite isn’t a one-time ask; it’s an ongoing partnership that drives success and ultimately benefits the patients we serve.” Sara Geatrakas, MSN, RN, Business & Operations Manager and Clare Socci, BSN, RN, Director, Organ...
“It’s incredibly helpful to hear how other programs do things, because we’re not all the same, and we can all learn from how we do things differently.”