Audience (Please share this notice with anyone in your organization who would benefit from it.)
- VCA programs
- Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs)
- All UNet users (for awareness)
Implementation date
Sept. 14, 2023
At-a-glance
Allocation of all Vascularized Composite Allograft (VCA) organs has been moved to UNetSM. Any patients on the “VCA Candidate List” have been added to WaitlistSM by UNOS staff. Transplant hospitals are responsible for reviewing these registrations to ensure all candidate information is accurate.
Additional information
Waitlist now includes candidate management for each of the 10 VCA organs.
DonorNet® will include the 10 VCA organs on match initiation, match results, organ offers, test donors, contact management, and select reports. For donors added after implementation, there will be two new VCA related sections:
- On the donor record’s Organ Data tab, a new “VCA organs” section will be added to collect information and/or comments for any of the VCA organs.
- On the Donor organ disposition (feedback), a new “Disposition of donor VCA organs” section will be added.
The current process for collecting Transplant Recipient Registration (TRR) forms and Transplant Recipient Follow-up (TRF) forms has not changed. Members will continue to receive TRR and TRF forms for VCA transplants from UNOS via secure email and return the finished forms via secure email.
Once the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) evaluates and approves the new collection process, post-transplant data will be collected within TIEDI. Members will be notified before that process for VCA transplants is incorporated into UNet.
What you need to do
Transplant hospitals:
Site Security Administrators should review information from the pre-implementation notice to ensure their program is prepared for UNet.
Other VCA personnel at transplant programs should review the UNet and VCA education listed below to prepare for the transition.
Please be sure to access UNet immediately upon implementation and set the Waitlist Listing Defaults for each VCA program. Doing so will ensure better monitoring and compliance of your waiting list. Listing Defaults is utilized for indicating 24-hour contact phone number, program status, and defaulted donor acceptance criteria. Registrations for transplant hospital programs marked as Inactive within Listing Defaults are excluded from match runs.
Transplant programs will need to designate an on-call contact for each of their approved VCA programs within Contact Management in DonorNet. This contact will receive the VCA organ offers.
OPOs/histocompatibility labs
OPO contact phone numbers for VCA organs will default to the contact phone number the OPO uses for most other organs. When needed, OPOs are advised to update default contact phone numbers for any VCA organ within Contact Management in DonorNet.
Users can review the UNet and VCA education listed below to prepare for the transition.
Education and resources
Read about the changes to data collection forms in the following board approved policy projects:
- Update to VCA Transplant Outcomes Data Collection
- Modify Graft Failure Definition for VCA
- Apply Transplant Notification Requirements for VCA Program Inactivation
UNet University features six e-learning modules that are designed to familiarize you to the UNet system at an introductory level. Log into UNOS Connect (the OPTN’s learning management system) and search for:
- UNet University playlist
A new educational course specific to VCA is also available in UNOS Connect. Log into UNOS Connect and search for:
- VCA 102: VCA Allocation in UNet
Help documentation has been updated in UNet.
Additional details
Every time data collection changes, the OPTN must submit all data collection forms to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval prior to implementation. Parts of this release are included in the current OMB package which were originally planned for release in May 2023 pending OMB approval. This date was updated to Sept. 14, 2023, to provide additional time for members to prepare for the changes and to ensure a smooth integration of our systems.
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]
The Organ Center is available 24 hours a day at 800-292-9537
