Bill to Revamp Organ Transplant System Contracting Passes House

The House Tuesday passed by voice vote a bill designed to enable the overhaul of America’s organ transplantation system.

H.R. 2544 would allow the Department of Health and Human Services to award contracts through competitive bidding to public and private entities to operate different aspects of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), which maintains a national registry for matching organ donors with possible organ recipients.

The contractors would presumably assume many of the responsibilities that have been carried out by the United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS, which has managed the network under federal contract since 1986. A private nonprofit organization, UNOS ...