(November 27, 2024, New York, NY) - The following are statements from the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) final rule for the Increasing Organ Transplant Access (IOTA) Model.
Kevin Longino, CEO of the National Kidney Foundation and a transplant recipient:
“NKF has long advocated for policies that put the patient at the center of the transplant process, including improving care coordination and transparency. The new IOTA Model is an important next step towards those goals, and we commend the CMS Innovation Center for advancing reform. Still, more must be done.
We are disappointed that some provisions on patient communication and transparency were not included in the new model. For example, it does not require transplant centers to inform patients about the number of organs declined on their behalf or the reasons for these declines. We urge CMS to prioritize reinstating such requirements in future iterations of the model. Nevertheless, this is progress and that should bring some hope to the nearly 90,000 people waiting for a kidney transplant in the U.S. right now and the more than a half million Americans who need regular dialysis treatment to live.”
Dr. Kirk Campbell, President of the National Kidney Foundation:
“This is a key piece to the larger puzzle of improving the overall system and saving more lives. Changes to the IOTA Model, coupled with the Health Resources and Services Administration’s efforts to modernize the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), represent a crucial step toward revolutionizing the United States transplant ecosystem. IOTA and policies like it are critical to empowering kidney patients so they can receive the care they rightfully deserve.”
About Changes to the IOTA Model:
Changes to the IOTA Model are designed to enhance the patient experience across critical phases of the kidney transplant journey. They seek to eliminate disparities in access to transplantation and elevate quality of care and health outcomes.
About the National Kidney Foundation
The National Kidney Foundation is revolutionizing the fight to save lives by eliminating preventable kidney disease, accelerating innovation for the dignity of the patient experience, and dismantling structural inequities in kidney care, dialysis, and transplantation. For more information about kidney disease, please visit www.kidney.org/.
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