iReferral® automatically identifies potential organ and tissue donors and streamlines the hospital-to-OPO referral process.
InVita Healthcare Technologies, UnityPoint Health, and Iowa Donor Network (“IDN”), the federally designated Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) serving the state of Iowa, have collaborated to successfully launch iReferral® across thirteen (13) UnityPoint Health hospital facilities across Iowa in August 2023. iReferral replaces the prior time-intensive, error-prone, and manual telephonic referral process with healthcare interoperability technology that automatically identifies potential organ and tissue donors based on established criteria and securely delivers donor referrals to IDN’s iTransplant® System.
“We are honored to be a part of this collaboration and to implement iReferral across UnityPoint Health. This new technology enables us to increase the number of organ and tissue donations while keeping nurses at the bedside providing patient care and support to family members,” said Denise Cundy, Chief Nursing Officer for UnityPoint Health – Des Moines. “Prior to the implementation of this technology, nurses would spend significant time communicating with IDN donor coordinators making the referral and answering questions about the patient. This automated process streamlines the referral process for our nurses.”
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) mandates referral of all prospective organ and tissue donors to their federally designated OPO via CFR 482.45. With more than 100,000 patients on the nation’s waitlist awaiting a life-saving organ, every referral counts with every donor having the ability to save up to eight (8) lives through organ transplant and enhance over seventy-five (75) more through tissue donation.
“We are thankful to UnityPoint Health for their partnership and commitment to saving more lives through organ donation by implementing iReferral system wide. The use of iReferral will help ensure more potential organ donors are referred to Iowa Donor Network in a timely manner. It is our hope this will result in an increased number of organs recovered for transplant and more lives saved,” said Suzanne Conrad, CEO of Iowa Donor Network.
“We are proud to work with Iowa Donor Network and Unity Point Health to launch iReferral across their extensive hospital network,” said Todd Collins, President & CEO of InVita Healthcare Technologies. “With this successful partnership, the critical and time-sensitive first step of the donation process is streamlined, helping to ensure all potential donors and families have the opportunity to donate and save lives.”
About UnityPoint Health | unitypoint.org
UnityPoint Health is one of the nation’s most integrated health systems, providing care to both metropolitan and rural communities across Iowa, western Illinois and southern Wisconsin. Headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa, UnityPoint Health has relationships with more than 370 physician clinics, 17 regional and 19 community network hospitals, 5 community mental health centers, 3 accredited colleges and home care services throughout its 8 regions. UnityPoint Health entities employ more than 32,000 employees who are dedicated to making it easier for people to live well. More at unitypoint.org.
About Iowa Donor Network | iowadonornetwork.org
Iowa Donor Network (IDN) serves as Iowa’s only non-profit organ and tissue recovery agency. As an organization, we strive to provide the best possible care to our donor families, facilitate the recovery of organs and tissues, educate the communities we serve and support special events to promote donation throughout Iowa. To fulfill our mission, we collaborate with the Iowa Lions Eye Bank, healthcare professionals and organizations statewide to honor the gift of life
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.
