June 16, 2004
Chicago, Ill.

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I am delighted to be here today for this annual meeting of the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations.  I know you all enjoyed hearing that video message from Secretary Thompson. It is clear to those of us who work with the Secretary that organ donation is more to him than just another health issue to address. It has been and continues to be a deep abiding passion for him that he speaks eloquently about whenever he has the opportunity.  We are so fortunate to have his leadership and support as we all work so hard together to increase organ donation nationwide.
 
I also want to thank each of you for the extraordinary effort you put forth everyday.  At HHS and HRSA, we are proud to call you partners. 
 
Working together, we have increased the total number of deceased donors from 6,187 in 2002 to 6,455 in 2003 -- an incredible 4.3 percent increase in donation.
 
Not since 1998 have we seen increases anywhere near this scale. We also achieved a record-breaking 13.9 percent increase in Hispanic donation in 2003, and an equally impressive record-breaking 11.5 percent increase in donation by African Americans.
 
And while these numbers are certainly worth celebrating, I can tell you that initial results for 2004 are looking even better.  Overall donation for the first quarter of 2004 is up 7.2 percent over last year’s record-breaking first quarter.  And minority donation rates are up even higher in the first quarter of 2004. HRSA’s grant programs have long offered additional points for minority-focused projects. 
 
In fact, by FY 2003, 43 percent of our grants specifically targeted minorities.  And this summer we are beginning a new grant program to help others replicate and adapt some of the highly successful strategies that have been developed by many of you right here in this room. 
 
By any measure, we are making progress.  But we cannot afford to become satisfied or content with the strides we’ve already made.  We must constantly remind ourselves why we do the work we do.  You know the numbers.
 
More than 80,000 Americans are waiting for an organ that can save or enhance their lives. Yet 17 of these people die every day because a life-saving organ doesn’t become available. This is a national tragedy. 
 
HHS and HRSA, working in partnership with committed people and organizations like the AOPO all across the nation, are moving forward on several fronts to increase donation and save lives.
As you all know by now, Secretary Thompson has made organ and tissue donation a central part of his administration. His national Gift of Life Donation Initiative is designed to encourage Americans to donate organs and tissue and to make it easier for them to do so.
 

Since the launch of this initiative, we’ve had unprecedented action and progress in many new areas.   Let me give you just a few highlights.

 
We have distributed millions of copies of the new Uniform Donor Card, a legal document in all 50 states, that was developed by HRSA in collaboration with the American Bar Association.
 
We continue to work to make the seamless interchange of information among state registries a reality.  We are collaborating with the transplant community to ensure that information gathered is common and accessible through donor registries no matter what state.  And we want to promote registry participation to all Americans.  For example, a HRSA-funded grant has helped Utah publicize its registry, and in two short years more than 62 percent of the Utah driving population has joined the registry.
 
“No Greater Love” – the powerful documentary film produced by HRSA in collaboration with PBS, has been viewed by millions of Americans and won the Public Service Emmy for Best Documentary.
 
Also, we are so pleased that more and more national healthcare organizations are getting involved in our work to advance donation. A number of these organizations, such as the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, are on your program for this meeting.  
 
I urge all of you to strengthen your own ties to State Hospital Associations, to Medical Societies, to physician organizations and others.  Talk to primary care physicians in your communities and ask them to reach out to their patients with pro-donation messages.
 
At HRSA, we are doing all we can to sustain and broaden this wider involvement within the greater healthcare community.  And I commend AOPO for the efforts already taken in this area.
 
In addition, the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation has been incredibly proactive and effective, and has generated an unprecedented number of recommendations that are already being acted on across the Department and by others. For example, important directions have emerged, including the advancement of donor authorization legislation in many states and the more active consideration of cardiac death donors. We pledge to work closely with all of you and your associates throughout the transplant community and to accelerate progress in these areas.  Again, the news is good – March data show we had a record-breaking 34 DCD donors in that month alone.
 
In April, Secretary Thompson launched a new organ and tissue donation education program for high school students.  Its purpose is to help teens make informed decisions about donation, and to encourage them to share their decision and what they learn about donation with their families. We want to help a new generation learn how donation can make a difference in the lives of so many. 
 
Decision: Donation ‑‑ A School Program that Gives the Gift of Life includes print, video, CD‑Rom, and Web‑based  materials that teachers can integrate into existing curriculum and training programs.  A core lesson, intended for driver education or health classes, but usable in any class, can be completed in 45 minutes.   Additional donation lessons are included for a variety of classes: English, math, biology, and social studies.
 
We are very proud to make this Web‑based education package available for high school classrooms -- either as a new program where none exists or as a supplement for existing programs.
 
We are greatly appreciative of those of you in the audience today who shared your expertise, your knowledge -- and in some cases, your materials --   to help us create a model program that will benefit all of us, and more important, will benefit those awaiting transplants.
 
One of the Secretary’s initiatives that I am especially proud to be leading at HRSA is the Workplace Partnership for Life.  With this effort, we recruit and support American workplaces in the effort to increase awareness and action on the donation of organs, tissue, marrow and blood.
 
In April 2001, Secretary Thompson challenged all of us to recruit and support 1,000 organizations into his Workplace Partnership.  We did. 
 
In April 2002, he raised the stakes and challenged us to recruit and support another 5,000 organizations into the Workplace Partnership.  We did that too.
 
I am pleased to report that as of June 10, we have 9,597 Workplace Partners in action with us to increase the donation of organs, tissue, marrow and blood.
 
The Secretary could not be happier with the success of the Workplace Partners program.
 
And OPOs have been integral to this success.  Thousands of these partners have been enrolled by the nation’s network of organ procurement organizations.
 
Today I am especially pleased to acknowledge the work of 15 organizations that recently teamed with HRSA to pilot a cooperative new approach to expand participation in the Workplace Partnership for Life, and to encourage more life-saving donations.
 
These organizations worked with Akoya, a Pittsburgh communications firm, on a special initiative designed to recruit new Workplace Partners in each region; educate and engage Workplace Partners in those target regions; and document the results.
 
Thanks to the work of these 15 organizations, 1,100 new Workplace Partners have been recruited in their regions in just the last several months.
 
Since we kicked off this pilot in the fall, nearly 1,000 of these Partners have already reported on their activities and results.
 
Now I am delighted to recognize and thank these 15 organizations for their leadership, initiative, and collaboration on this special effort.  Please stand and be recognized as I call out the names of your organizations:
 
These organizations have been pioneers in translating the national Workplace Partnership for Life Initiative into regional action and results.
 
Please join me in giving these folks a round of applause for their work!
 

I invite key representatives from the 15 OPOs involved in this Workplace Partnership initiative to come forward following this talk to receive a special HRSA award for this outstanding achievement.

As many of you know, the Secretary’s Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative is already having a tremendous impact on donation accountability, practices and outcomes in the nation’s largest hospitals.
 
Special thanks to AOPO President Helen Leslie, AOPO Executive Director Paul Schwab, Collaborative Co-Chairs Teresa Shafer and John Chessare, AOPO Collaborative Committee Chairman Sam Holtzman and President-Elect Joe Roth for their leadership in this effort.
 
Today, I can report that 44 of the 59 OPOs have already fielded teams in the Collaborative which has been underway since September of last year.
 
Your work in this Collaborative is proving that we can substantially increase the number of transplantations in this country…fast.
 
In the eight short months, we have already achieved gains that are nothing short of astonishing:
 
·       Collectively, the 95 hospitals and 44 OPOs in this Collaborative have achieved major, sustained, collaborative-wide increases in the two key process measures of Timely Notification and Appropriate Requester  -- on the scale of 20 percentage points or more;
 
·        Two of the hospital and OPO teams have achieved “winning streaks” of 9 donors in a row;
 
·        Seven of the large hospitals in the Collaborative have achieved sustained average conversion rates of 65 to 74 percent;
 
·        Twelve more of the large hospitals in the Collaborative have achieved sustained average conversion rates of 75 percent or more; and
 
·        On average,the 95 hospitals in the Collaborative are experiencing a nearly 10 percent increase in the actual numbers of donors they have had over the previous time period last year – more than twice the increase of non-Collaborative hospitals.
 
OPOs and their largest hospitals in the Collaborative are clearly on the path to achieving the goal of a 75 percent conversion rate. The leading teams in the Collaborative have already developed and implemented methods and practices that result in much higher rates of donation. This is incredible. Congratulations. 
 
Right now, HHS and HRSA are beginning an intensive, unprecedented, full-court press to systematically “spread” the practices and results of the initial Collaborative to the other largest donor potential hospitals in the nation.
 
I challenge the organ donation advocates in this room to look carefully at the practices of these Collaborative Teams. And then test and adapt your own systems to reach sustained organ donation rates of 75 percent.
 
This Spread Strategy is comprised of a number of key elements, including:
 

• A second Collaborative for up to 200 large hospitals and their OPOs;
• Continued satellite broadcasts of the learning sessions;
• A management system for tracking practices;
• A cadre of Spread Leaders in OPOs throughout the nation; and
• A National Learning Congress in May 2005 where we will award an HHS Medal of Honor to teams with 12-month conversion rates of 75 percent.

I look forward to handing out those Medals of Honor to many of you in this room.  Let’s make it happen.
 
The Secretary also recently launched another initiative to systematically increase the number of organs transplanted per donor.
 
As all of you know, a single donor can provide up to eight life-saving organs, and provide tissue for countless others. Unfortunately, on average, we are only recovering 3.16 organs per donor. We can do better.
 
This new Secretarial Initiative includes a number of powerful elements. We will cosponsor a Technology Summit with AOPO and the other leading organizations who have committed to the goal of this initiative. We will also begin to study and benchmark the practices and technology used by those Transplant Centers and OPOs that are leading the nation in this area. We will have an Expert Panel of leading practitioners who will vet the findings and recommendations produced by this Benchmarking Study, and, once complete, these findings will be incorporated into the OPTN Performance Guidelines.
 
With this effort, our goal is clear.  We want to make sure we maximize the number of organs transplanted from each and every organ donor, without exception.  We will improve our use of new technology and increase our focus on those proven practices and systems that result in an average of 3.75 organs transplanted from every organ donor.
 
Achieving this aim would result in nearly 4,000 additional organs transplanted per year…and every year thereafter. I am convinced that this incredible goal is truly within our reach.  In fact, I know it is.
 
I know because key leaders in some Organ Procurement Organizations and Transplant Centers are already doing it. And some are here in the room with us today.  They include people and organizations like: Phyllis Weber and the California Transplant Donor Network, Tony D’Allesandro and the University of Wisconsin Hospital, and others.  These leaders have pointed us in the right direction. And if we can do it in California and Wisconsin – we can do it in OPOs and Transplant Centers in states across the nation.
 
I urge all of you to join with us in implementing this aggressive action that will help increase the numbers of organs transplanted per donor.
 
In closing, I want to once again thank the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations for the marvelous work you have done and will do in the future.  At HHS and HRSA, we will continue to look to you for leadership and inspiration.
 
Looking ahead, we still have much we can accomplish together.
 
My message to you is simple. Keep going. Stay the course. Take pride in your achievements and know that your tireless effort has and will continue to give hope to many and save countless lives.