Organ Donation Referral Improvement Act

Bill: 119-hr-330
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Wittman, Robert J. [R-VA-1]
Introduced: 2025-01-09
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Computers and information technology

Congressional oversight

Government studies and investigations

Hospital care

Organ and tissue donation and transplantation
Latest action: action_date: 2025-01-09
text: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Summaries:
action_date: 2025-01-09
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><strong>Organ Donation Referral Improvement Act</strong></p><p>This bill requires the&nbsp;Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) in the&nbsp;Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a study on hospitals’ use of electronic automated referrals for organ donations. The bill defines <em>electronic automated referral</em> as an electronic system that uses electronic health records to identify patients who are potential organ donors and automatically refers those patients to organ procurement organizations.&nbsp;</p><p>The ASPE must include specified components in the study, including identifying benefits, reviewing best practices, and developing recommendations for the use of electronic automated referrals for organ donations. </p>

tv_txt: I 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 330 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 9, 2025 Mr. Wittman (for himself, Ms. McClellan , Mrs. Miller-Meeks , and Mr. Costa ) 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 1 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 1 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.