Roy Blunt US Senator For Missouri: Blunt, Moran Demand HHS Reverse Flawed Liver Allocation Policy

Press release from Roy Blunt US Senator for Missouri:

December 21, 2021

WASHINGTON ­– Today, U.S. Senators Roy Blunt
(Mo.) and Jerry Moran (Kan.) issued the following statement in response to
the release of documents, including emails between the United Network for Organ
Sharing (UNOS) and organ procurement organizations,
regarding the national liver allocation policy. The emails released are
in response to a November 17, 2021, United States Court of Appeals for the
Eleventh Circuit ruling against UNOS, the Department of Health and Human
Services’ contractor for organ procurement and transplantation. The Court
found that UNOS “repeatedly failed to live up to its production obligations” to
release documents in ongoing litigation and the Court acknowledged these
documents show “personal opinions about the relative merits of living in
different regions of the United States.”

“These newly-released emails are disgusting and absolutely
unacceptable. They show clear collusion by UNOS and several organ procurement
organizations prior to the liver allocation policy being announced, leaving no
doubt that the liver allocation policy must be overturned,” the senators said.
“From the time the changes to the national liver allocation policy were first
announced three years ago, we raised the alarm about the major flaws in the
policymaking process. UNOS
overruled the expert Liver and Intestine Committee, excluded certain
public comments in the deliberations, and arrived at an outcome that was
radically different from the decision previously reached. What we learned today
is that the process was not simply flawed, it was deliberately designed to deny
patients in the South and Midwest their fair chance at a lifesaving liver
transplant.

The emailsshow a pattern of collusion between UNOS, a New
England-area organ procurement organization, and others prior to the changes in the liver
allocation policy being announced. The changes favored certain states at the
expense of states in the South and Midwest, which are predicted to see a
substantial decrease in organ availability. The emails further include profane
and disparaging comments about people living in the South, demonstrating a
clear bias against these areas in the policymaking process.

The senators continued, “UNOS tried to use the legal system to cover their tracks.
Thankfully they were unsuccessful and their callous arrogance has now been laid
bare. We have repeatedly said the process and policy for determining liver
allocations needs to be made fairly and transparently. Neither UNOS nor
the Department of Health and Human Services have lived up to this
standard. These emails perfectly illustrate our biggest fears
and what we’ve known all along – that the process is totally biased and
fundamentally flawed. We demand that the Department of Health and Human
Services immediately reverse its implementation of the misguided liver
allocation policy.”

Since the initial allocation decision was made in December
2018, Blunt and Moran have repeatedly pressed HHS to review the liver
allocation policymaking process and HHS’ oversight of the program and its
contractor, UNOS:

This press release was produced by Roy Blunt US Senator for Missouri. The views expressed here are the author’s own.