Organ Donation Referral Improvement Act

Bill: 118-hr-9939
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Wittman, Robert J. [R-VA-1]
Introduced: 2024-10-04
Policy area: Health
Latest action: action_date: 2024-10-04
text: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Summaries:

tv_txt: I 118th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 9939 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES October 4, 2024 Mr. Wittman (for himself, Ms. McClellan , Mr. Costa , and Mrs. Miller-Meeks ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, to conduct a study on existing efforts of hospitals with respect to electronic automated referrals for purposes of organ donation, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Organ Donation Referral Improvement Act . 2. Studying electronic automated referral for organ donations (a) In general Not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (referred to in this Act as the Secretary ), shall conduct and complete a study on existing efforts of hospitals with respect to electronic automated referrals for purposes of organ donation. (b) Study components The study conducted under subsection (a) shall— (1) identify savings in staff time, variation in timeliness to determine eligibility for organ donation, as well as potential improvement over human interaction for the identification of potential organ donors, if any, attained through the use of electronic automated referrals; (2) identify benefits, if any, in identifying potential organ donors through the use of electronic medical records and standardized clinical criteria; (3) review the impact of such electronic automated referrals, without the need for manual reporting, on donation volumes; (4) assess published peer-reviewed clinical literature on such electronic automated referrals; (5) review best practices for using such electronic automated referrals; (6) review information technology practices to ensure the secure transmission of information for purposes of such referrals; (7) develop recommendations to promote the use of such electronic automated referrals; and (8) identify what actions are needed to establish the use of such electronic automated referrals nationwide. (c) Report Not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate a report on the results of the study conducted under subsection (a). (d) Electronic automated referral defined In this section, the term electronic automated referral means an electronic system that identifies potential deceased organ donors via clinical criteria in a patient’s electronic health record and automatically refers such patients to the hospital’s collaborating organ procurement organization.