The Biden-Harris Administration's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has proposed a new rule aimed at reducing racial disparities in kidney transplants, particularly among Black patients. This initiative seeks to increase access to kidney transplants for all individuals with end-stage renal disease by addressing racial biases in the transplant system. The proposal follows the discovery that an outdated medical test had inappropriately calculated the necessity for transplants, resulting in over 14,000 Black kidney transplant candidates being moved up on the waitlist. In 2021, 32% of kidney patients on the national waitlist were Black, but only 13.5% of recipients of a transplant from a living donor were Black, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients Annual Data Report. Meanwhile, White patients made up 35.8% of the waitlist and 61.8% of transplant recipients from a living donor. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra stated that the organ transplant industry is not immune to racial inequities and emphasized the administration's commitment to removing racial bias and inequity in the transplant process.
Opponents of the proposed rule say the administration is unfairly blaming physicians for not extending the opportunity for kidney transplants to Black patients. https://t.co/RPhX18yDd0
The proposed HHS rule came weeks after over 14,000 Black kidney transplant candidates were moved up on the waitlist when it was discovered that an outdated medical test may have inappropriately calculated their necessity for a transplant. https://t.co/RPhX18yDd0
White patients made up 35.8% of the waitlist and 61.8% of transplant recipients from a living donor, according to https://t.co/R6zq9MX3jo. https://t.co/RPhX18yDd0
In 2021, 32% of kidney patients on a national waitlist were Black, but only 13.5% of recipients of a transplant from a living donor were Black, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients Annual Data Report. https://t.co/RPhX18yDd0
"The Biden-Harris Administration is taking concrete steps to remove racial bias when calculating wait times and rooting out profiteering and inequity in the transplant process,” he said. https://t.co/RPhX18yDd0
Becerra said in a statement that the organ transplant industry "is not immune to racial inequities" and that "Black Americans disproportionately struggle with life-threatening kidney disease, yet they receive a smaller percentage of kidney transplants." https://t.co/RPhX18yDd0
A White House effort to reduce bias in the organ transplant system comes as some Black litigants are pressing legal claims against a national transplant network they say used a flawed, racially biased calculation to delay kidney transplants. https://t.co/oeKStTIPdW https://t.co/Pn2cAQxQoE
A new rule proposed by the Biden Department of Health and Human Services intends to increase access to kidney transplants for all people with end-stage renal disease by reducing racial disparities among Black patients. https://t.co/4e7in9zI1P
New rule proposed by HHS aims to reduce racial disparities among Black kidney transplant patients https://t.co/wZTURuDoi7
[ICYMI] From cataracts to knee replacements and hernia repairs, thousands of patients have been on surgery waiting lists for months. https://t.co/gW1wInVnYp
More than 100,000 people are on the national waiting list for a transplant, most of them kidney patients, and thousands die every year before their turn comes. https://t.co/sfw3vb40BF