Issue #17 | February 2026

Welcome to the Science in Donation & Transplant Newsletter!

Three new and informative articles in this issue:

1. SID&T Sets the Record Straight for Ways and Means Members Schweikert and Miller

2. Published Research Further Shows Continued CMS Rule Discrimination

3. Despite HHS CMS Failures Opos and Transplant Centers Continue to Set Records

SID&T Provides Fact Based Report to House Ways and Means Leaders

Following the recent Ways and Means Oversight hearing SID&T directly targeted Oversight Chairman Schweikert of Arizona and member Max Miller of Ohio to expand on the need for the Committee to focus on the CMS caused chaos in the nation’s non-profit donation system.

We again challenged the sensational and fact bereft testimony of the venture capital motivated witnesses like Jennifer Erickson.

Evidence Based Peer Reviewed Research Again Shows the Final Rule Discriminates

In the January 2026 issue of Transplantation Dr. James R. Rodrigue and colleagues provide compelling evidence that CMS’s OPO performance metric is fundamentally flawed. Most critically, the research shows that the CMS metric measures demographics, not performance, penalizing OPOs based on the diverse communities they serve rather than the quality of their work.

OPOS and Transplant Centers Set Records Despite CMS and HRSA Failings

Despite CMS threats and unwarranted sensationalism and misinformation fueled by special interests, the organ donation and transplantation field enjoyed a year of undeniable achievements, setting new records. Let’s look at the facts …

Discover SID&T on Your Favorite Social Media Platforms

Did you know that we post regularly across a series of popular social media platforms? Give us a follow and join us as we share updates from the news, Washington D.C., and debunk bad science and misinformation on OPOs, and organ donation and transplantation.

Science in Donation and Transplant is a non-profit established in November 2020 devoted to improving OPOs performance and placing patient results above politics.

Our goal is to ensure that the metrics and measures used to credential, license, designate and certify donation and transplant organizations are grounded in science and protected from political whim and private financial influence.