Effort utilizes novel technology to increase opportunities for lifesaving transplant matches.
The MetroHealth System is partnering with InVita Healthcare Technologies and Lifebanc, the federally designated Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) serving Northeast Ohio, to automate and enhance the organ and tissue donation process. The partnership recently launched the healthcare interoperability platform iReferral® at four MetroHealth facilities.
The novel technology links MetroHealth’s Epic health records system with InVita’s iTransplant® System utilized by Lifebanc, allowing for automatic referral of MetroHealth patients who are potential organ and/or tissue donors to Lifebanc. It replaces the prior time-intensive and manual telephonic donor referral process and allows MetroHealth’s providers and nurses to focus more time on clinical care while improving compliance with federal requirements regarding donation and transplantation.
“This effort builds on MetroHealth’s long partnership with Lifebanc to provide lifesaving organ and tissue donations to transplant recipients, allowing literally thousands of individuals across the region to live happy and healthy lives,” says MetroHealth President and CEO Dr. Airica Steed, Ed.D, RN, MBA, FACHE. “By collaborating with InVita we can augment that effort by using technology to ensure we can properly identify all potential organ donors and efficiently match them with needy recipients.”
With more than 100,000 patients on the nation’s transplant waitlist awaiting a lifesaving organ, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regulations mandate hospitals refer all potential organ and tissue donors to their federally designated OPO. With each donor having the ability to save up to eight (8) lives through organ transplantation and enhance over seventy-five (75) more through tissue donation, every donation opportunity and donor referral is of critical importance.
“This innovative collaboration signifies a new era of efficiency in organ procurement,” said Gordon Bowen, Lifebanc CEO. “As an organization and community, we are continually seeking advancements, and the integration of iReferral embodies just that. Through this cutting-edge technology we are not only streamlining processes within MetroHealth facilities, but also restoring hope to the hands of our recipients.”
“Several years ago, Lifebanc launched our iReferral interoperability and was one of the first OPOs to achieve electronic donor referrals,” said Todd Collins, President & CEO of InVita Healthcare Technologies. “Congratulations to their team and MetroHealth on this recent launch to simultaneously improve and increase organ and tissue donation and achieve key efficiencies especially in a critical care setting.”
About MetroHealth | metrohealth.org
Founded in 1837, MetroHealth is leading the way to a healthier you and a healthier community through service, teaching, discovery, and teamwork. Cuyahoga County’s public, safety-net hospital system, MetroHealth meets people where they are, providing care through five hospitals, four emergency departments, and more than 20 health centers and 40 additional sites. Each day, our nearly 9,000 employees focus on providing our community with equitable health care–through patient-focused research, access to care, and support services–that seeks to eradicate health disparities rooted in systematic barriers.
About Lifebanc | lifebanc.org
Lifebanc is Northeast Ohio’s non-profit organ, eye and tissue recovery organization with a mission to save and heal lives. The organization serves over 4 million people and works with 80 hospitals in a 20-county area. Lifebanc facilitates the organ, eye and tissue recovery and donation processes, provides extensive care and support services to donor families, as well as coordinates community outreach and education programs to encourage registration on the Ohio Donor Registry. For more information on Lifebanc or to register as an organ, eye and tissue donor visit www.lifebanc.org. Contact: Elaine Heffernan, 716.548.9505, eheffernan@hellocle.com
About InVita Healthcare Technologies | invitahealth.com
InVita provides mission-critical and chain-of-custody software technologies for complex medical, forensic, and community care environments. InVita’s solutions streamline clinical workflows, optimize supply chains, sample tracking, and visibility across donation and transplantation, blood and plasma operations, the tissue and implant lifecycle, and environments spanning DNA and forensics. InVita continues to expand the iReferral® and iTransplant® platforms supporting nearly 75% of all OPOs in the United States and used by more than 15,000 medical professionals across more than 100 organ, tissue, eye, and birth tissue organizations around the world.
