The Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation (ACOT) met on November 5-6, 2007, in Rockville, MD, and unanimously agreed on the following three recommendations:
Recommendation 47: ACOT recommends that the Secretary use the resources available to and within HHS to cause the collection of data concerning transplants on patients who are United States citizens or residents who received their organ transplants outside of the United States.
The processes could include, without limitation, data collection by the OPTN and/or CMS on matters such as where the transplant occurred, type of transplant, information about the donor, and basic post-transplant health condition information.
Recommendation 48: ACOT recommends that the Secretary facilitate cooperation with international organizations and/or foreign governments to identify and address risks of exploitation to, and risks to the health of, unrelated living donors to United States recipients.
Recommendation 49: ACOT recommends that the Secretary take actions to ensure that data on the general health status of living donors are collected on a nationwide basis by a centralized entity. The ACOT recommends that such data be collected, at a minimum, on an annual basis for a period of 10 years post-donation. The ACOT further recommends that the transplant program that performed a donor’s transplant be principally responsible for the data submissions or ensure that another institution providing ongoing medical care to, or follow up on, the donor collect and submit such data.