Organ network looks to address regional disparities
Filed under: Conflicts of interest, Health care reform, Hot Health Headline
American Medical News‘ Kevin O’Reilly writes that, spurred on by attention paid to Apple boss Steve Jobs’ trip to Tennessee to take advantage of shorter liver transplant waiting lists, the United Network for Organ Sharing (which has a government contract to run the country’s Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network) will meet in the spring of 2010 to address socioeconomic and regional variations in access to donated organs (see a graph of regional waiting list sizes here).
Jobs did not break any rules, experts say, but he did use his resources to take advantage of an imperfect system. One of the biggest problems? Multiple listings, in which one wealthy patient hops on waiting lists across the country and plays the odds to get the fastest-possible transplant. In what may be an obstacle to reform, some argue that multiple listing is a reasonable practice used by rich and poor alike. Additionally, others say that regional differences in transplant wait times reflect more than just differences in access to health care; they also reflect the high cost of transporting live organs and differing regional success rates in encouraging new donors and standards for harvesting organs.
Related
- In a package for the Los Angeles Times, Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber looked at UNOS oversight failures and what distinguished the best organ transplant centers from their less-successful peers. Here, the duo tell AHCJ members how they put the project together (includes tips on accessing and using UNOS and other transplant data).
- GAO report on correcting deficiencies at transplant oversight agencies
Memphis hospital confirms liver transplant for Jobs
Apple CEO Steve Jobs still isn’t talking about his health. But a Tennessee hospital confirmed a Wall Street Journal scoop over the weekend that said the secretive exec had a liver transplant.
Jobs has been ill and took a leave from the company early this year. But his statements, and those of the company, have been vague – at best. The front-page Journal story saying he’d had a liver transplant was nearly as vague, lacking attribution for the claim.
Well, Methodist Hospital of Memphis, with Jobs’ permission, has ended the speculation on the veracity of the transplant report. In a statement, the hospital said he got a new liver because he was “the sickest patient on the waiting list at the time a donor organ became available.” Tennessee has shorter waiting times than most states.
Jobs’ outlook is good, the hospital said. Wonder what Apple and Jobs have to say on that score?
It’s especially curious that Methodist, operating under patient privacy rules, was more inclined to get the news out than Apple, a publicly traded company obligated by securities regulations to disclose material information.
There’s plenty of wiggle room in those regs. Still, as Columbia University law prof John Coffee tells Business Week, “Apple is probably an extreme example where the CEO’s health is very material. Walt Disney in 1950 would have been an equivalent.”
Update: A Reuters reporter spotted Jobs at the Apple campus on Monday, adding to speculation that the CEO may have returned to work.
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Health Journalism 2010, AHCJ's annual conference, features a world-class program with story ideas, sources, stronger reporting skills, chances to meet newsmakers and network with other journalists.
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