George Washington University Hospital to restart transplant program

[Clark]

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/2014/01/george-washington-hospital-kidney.html?page=all

George Washington University Hospital to restart transplant program
Tina Reed

George Washington University Hospital's bid to revive is dormant organ transplant program prevailed Monday after an administrative law judge granted the hospital permission to begin kidney and pancreas transplants, officials announced.
The hospital plans to submit an application for membership with the United Network for Organ Sharing and pursue certification by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The approval overturned an earlier decision by the D.C. State Health Planning and Development Agency, which said in May the hospital would not receive a required "certificate of need" to begin kidney and pancreas transplants.
That denial had been a blow to one of CEO Barry Wolfman's major strategic initiatives since arriving in April 2012.
MedStar Health, which operates several hospitals in D.C. and had a near monopoly on transplants in the city, opposed George Washington's request, essentially saying its dominance was in the public interest because medical outcomes are best — and costs are most efficiently managed — in high-volume operations.
In its regulatory filings, George Washington highlighted statistics showing that fewer transplants have been performed citywide since Howard University Hospital closed its program in 2010. The declining transplants — a 12 percent drop for kidneys and a 42 percent drop for pancreas — stand at odds with growing incidents of end-stage renal disease, GW officials said.
George Washington has said it could ramp up to 81 transplants in five years. It would still be a modest amount compared to other transplant programs in the region.
In 2011, MedStar’s two transplant-performing hospitals, Washington Hospital Center and Georgetown University Hospital, did a combined 288 transplants, including 140 kidney transplants. Inova Fairfax Hospital, the Washington region’s only other active transplant provider, performed 150 transplants, including 109 kidney procedures, that year.
All aspects of the kidney and pancreas donation and transplant process will be performed at both George Washington Hospital and affiliate GWU Medical Faculty Associates, an officials said. The hospital will perform transplants from both live and deceased donors.
“Today, GW Hospital is ready to embark on a journey to provide high-quality renal (kidney) disease services to all residents in the District of Columbia and the metropolitan region," said Dominic Raj, director of the division of renal disease and hypertension at GW Hospital in a release. “The objective is to ensure ready access to the level of care most appropriate to the patient's needs within a system of total patient care."