OPTN Efforts to Improve Living Kidney Donor Follow-up Reporting Have Been Successful

[Clark]

http://transplantpro.org/unos-researchers-present-studies-american-transplant-congress/

Efforts to Improve Living Kidney Donor Follow-up Reporting Have Been Successful
Jennifer Wainright, Ph.D.*, Mary Amanda Dew, Ph.D., Claudine Lougee, B.A.*, Sarah Taranto*, Lee Bolton, M.S.N., ACNP*, Christie Thomas, M.B., FRCP, FASN, FAHA

In February 2013, the OPTN implemented minimum thresholds for living donor kidney transplant programs to report clinical and laboratory follow-up data on their donors.  This information is important to assess potential donor risk and aid in informed consent for living kidney donation.  The researchers studied comparable cohorts of follow-up data before and after the thresholds were established.
National rates of timely clinical data increased, from 26.5 percent for living donor kidney transplants performed in 2007 to 71.8 percent for transplants in 2013.  Timely submission of lab data similarly increased, from 19.1 percent for transplants performed in 2007 to 66.5 percent for 2013 transplants.  Few reports indicated that living kidney donors were unwilling to submit to follow-up.
The percentage of individual transplant programs meeting the reporting thresholds also continued to increase, with 76.1 percent meeting the requirement in 2013 for clinical data and 81.3 percent meeting the requirement for lab data.  The majority of programs that missed the 2013 clinical data threshold needed five or fewer additional donor reports to meet it.  The dramatic increase demonstrates transplant programs’ commitment and ability to improve follow-up reporting.