procurement organizations and transplant centers in
the distribution of organs among transplant patients
and the provision of organ transplantation services,
and to assure quality and facilitate collaboration
among network members and individual medical
practitioners participating in network activities.
(2) The Organ Procurement and Transplan-
tation Network (‘‘Network’’), which is in the private
sector, exists because of a partnership between pub-
lic and private enterprise. A nonprofit private entity
established the Network pursuant to a contract
awarded by the Federal Government, and that same
entity has operated the Network since the Network
was established.
(3) It is desirable to continue this partnership,
and the Federal Government should continue to pro-
vide Federal oversight of and financial assistance for
the services performed by the Network.
(4) The responsibility for developing, estab-
lishing, and maintaining medical criteria and stand-
ards for organ procurement and transplantation be-
longs in the private sector and is a function of the
Network.
(5) The Federal Government should cooperate
with the Network to assist its efforts to serve pa-
tients and donor families in procuring and distrib-
uting organs.
(6) The Federal Government should carry out
programs to educate the public with respect to organ
donation, including the need to provide for an ade-
quate rate of such donations.
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—The Congress—
(1) recognizes the generous contribution made
by each living individual who has donated an organ
to save a life; and
(2) acknowledges the advances in medical tech-
nology that have enabled organ transplantation with
organs donated by living individuals to become a via-
ble treatment option for an increasing number of pa-
tients.
SEC. 3. ORGAN PROCUREMENT AND TRANSPLANTATION
NETWORK.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 372 of the Public Health
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 274) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘ORGAN PROCUREMENT AND TRANSPLANTATION
NETWORK
‘‘SEC. 372. (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall
by contract provide for the establishment and operation
of an Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network
(in this section referred to as the ‘Network’) that meets
the following requirements:
‘‘(1) The Network shall be an independent,
nonprofit private entity that has expertise and expe-
rience in organ procurement and transplantation.
‘‘(2) The Network shall in accordance with cri-
teria under subsection (b)(3) include as members
qualified organ procurement organizations (as de-
scribed in section 371(b)), transplant centers, and
other entities that have a demonstrated interest in
the fields of organ donation or transplantation.
(Such members are in this section referred to as
‘Network participants’.)
‘‘(3) The Network shall have a board of direc-
tors (in this section referred to as the ‘Board’). The
Board shall, after consultation with Network partici-
pants, establish the policies for carrying out the
functions described in this section for the Network.
‘‘(4) The Board shall be in accordance with the
following:
‘‘(A) The Board shall include representa-
tives of qualified organ procurement organiza-
tions, transplant centers, voluntary health asso-
ciations, and the general public, including a
reasonable proportion of the members of the
Board who are patients awaiting a transplant
or transplant recipients or individuals who have
donated an organ or family members of pa-
tients, recipients or donors.
‘‘(B) The Board shall establish member-
ship categories and qualifications with respect
to serving on the Board, and shall have exclu-
sive authority to admit individuals to member-
ship on the Board. Transplant surgeons and
transplant physicians shall comprise not less
than 50 percent of the membership of the
Board. The Board shall be limited to a total of
42 members.
‘‘(C) The Board shall have an executive
committee, and such other committees as the
Board determines to be appropriate.
‘‘(D) The chair of each such committee
shall be selected so as to ensure the continuity
of leadership for the Board.
‘‘(b) GENERAL FUNCTIONS.—The following applies
to the Network:
‘‘(1) The Network shall establish and operate a
national system to match organs and individuals
who need organ transplants, especially individuals
whose immune system makes it difficult for them to
receive organs.
‘‘(2) The national system shall maintain one or
more lists of individuals who need organ transplants,
shall be operated in accordance with established
medical criteria, shall be operated through the use of
computers, and may function on a regionalized
basis.
‘‘(3) The Network shall establish criteria for
being a Network participant, shall establish medical
criteria for allocating organs, and shall provide to
members of the public an opportunity to comment
with respect to such criteria.
‘‘(4) The Network shall maintain a twenty-four-
hour telephone and computer service to facilitate
matching organs with individuals included in the
list.
‘‘(5) The Network shall assist organ procure-
ment organizations in the local, regional, and nation-
wide distribution of organs. The distribution of or-
gans shall be based on medical criteria established
by the Network, and also shall be based on equity
and ethics without regard to economic status of
those awaiting organ transplants and without polit-
ical control or influence.
‘‘(6) The Network shall adopt and use stand-
ards of quality for the acquisition and transportation
of donated organs, including standards regarding
the transmission of infectious diseases.
‘‘(7) The Network shall prepare and distribute,
on a regionalized basis (and, to the extent prac-
ticable, among regions or on a national basis), sam-
ples of blood sera from individuals who are included
on the list and whose immune system makes it dif-
ficult for them to receive organs, in order to facili-
tate matching the compatibility of such individuals
with organ donors.
‘‘(8) The Network shall coordinate, as appro-
priate, the transportation of organs from organ pro-
curement organizations to transplant centers.
‘‘(9) The Network shall work actively to in-
crease the supply of donated organs.
‘‘(c) SCIENTIFIC REGISTRY.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Network shall main-
tain a scientific registry of patients awaiting organ
transplantation, persons from whom organs are re-
moved for transplantation, and organ transplant re-
cipients for the ongoing evaluation of the scientific
and clinical status of organ transplantation.
‘‘(2) REPORTS.—The Network shall prepare for
inclusion in the report under section 375 an analysis
of scientifically and clinically valid information de-
rived from the scientific registry under paragraph
(1).
‘‘(d) INFORMATION AND DATA.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Network shall—
‘‘(A) provide information to physicians and
other health professionals regarding organ do-
nation and transplantation; and
‘‘(B) collect, analyze, and publish data con-
cerning organ donation and transplantation.
‘‘(2) INFORMATION FOR PATIENTS AND GEN-
ERAL PUBLIC.—The Network shall make available to
patients in need of organ transplants information in
accordance with the following:
‘‘(A) The information shall be transplant-
related information specific to transplant cen-
ters that are Network participants, which infor-
mation has been determined by the Network to
be scientifically and clinically valid.
‘‘(B) The information shall be designed to
assist patients and referring physicians in
choosing a transplant center, including informa-
tion on the supply of and demand for organs.