To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to collect registration fees from members of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Grassley (for himself and Mr. Cassidy) introduced the following …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The OPTN Fee Collection Authority Act gives the Department of Health and Human Services new power to charge registration fees to transplant centers and hospitals for each patient they place on the national organ transplant waiting list. The bill also requires modernization of the organ transplant system through electronic health records integration and creates new public transparency requirements about how these fees are used. This fee authority expires after 3 years.
Who Benefits and How
The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which currently operates the national organ transplant network under federal contract, benefits by receiving a new revenue stream from registration fees to support its operations. Health IT companies that provide electronic health records software gain new business opportunities from the mandate to integrate transplant center systems using modern APIs (application programming interfaces). The general public may benefit from improved transplant coordination through better technology and increased transparency via the proposed dashboard showing transplant statistics and organ utilization data.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Transplant centers and hospitals face new costs because they must pay a registration fee for every patient they add to the transplant waiting list, creating an ongoing per-patient expense that may be passed on to patients or absorbed by the medical facility. Smaller transplant programs with limited budgets may be disproportionately impacted by both the registration fees and the technical costs of integrating their electronic health records systems. Organ procurement organizations must grant remote electronic access to hospital patient records and integrate their computer systems with hospitals and transplant centers, which requires staff time, software development, and ongoing IT maintenance. The Government Accountability Office is required to conduct a comprehensive review within 2 years and report findings to Congress.
Key Provisions
- Authorizes HHS Secretary to collect registration fees from transplant centers for each patient placed on the national organ waiting list, with fees used exclusively to support organ transplant network operations
- Requires the organ transplant network to encourage integration of electronic health record systems among hospitals, organ procurement organizations, and transplant centers using modern application programming interfaces
- Mandates quarterly public disclosure on the OPTN website showing the exact amount of fees collected from each network member and detailed information about how those fees are spent
- Directs the network to consider establishing a public dashboard displaying transplant statistics including number and types of transplants performed, organs that failed to be transplanted, and other metrics updated more frequently than annually
- Establishes a 3-year sunset provision, after which the fee collection authority automatically expires unless renewed by Congress
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to collect registration fees from members of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network to support OPTN operations, and requires modernization of electronic health records integration and transparency reporting.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Create a sustainable funding mechanism for OPTN operations through user fees while simultaneously modernizing transplant coordination systems and increasing transparency"
Likely Beneficiaries
- OPTN contractor (currently UNOS - United Network for Organ Sharing)
- Organ procurement organizations (receive modernized IT systems)
- Transplant centers (benefit from streamlined electronic referrals)
- HHS Department (gains fee collection authority and operational flexibility)
Likely Burden Bearers
- Transplant centers and hospitals (must pay registration fees for each candidate listed)
- Smaller transplant programs (fees may disproportionately impact programs with thinner margins)
- OPTN members (must integrate electronic health records systems and grant remote access to organ procurement organizations)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "optn_members"
- → Members of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (hospitals, organ procurement organizations, transplant centers)
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Health and Human Services
- "comptroller_general"
- → Comptroller General of the United States (GAO)
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The national network established under Section 372 of the Public Health Service Act that coordinates organ transplantation nationwide
Fees collected from OPTN members for each transplant candidate placed on the transplant waiting list, used solely to support OPTN operations
The list of individuals who need organs, maintained by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology