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Philadelphia City Councilmember Cherelle Parker stated in an op-ed on March 1, 2022 regarding organ donation and transplant:
“At a critical juncture when the federal government should be encouraging cooperation, alignment and shared best practices to improve the system, in the closing days of the previous administration,
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) adopted a new final rule that will effectively undermine these important goals.”
Philadelphia City Councilmember Cherelle L. Parker, representing the Ninth Council District, recently wrote an op-ed in the Philadelphia Tribune following the unanimous adoption of a City Council resolution that accurately represented the issues facing organ donation and transplant.
Parker added: “Instead of adopting protocols to improve donation and transplant in high-risk areas, including those that primarily serve communities of color, federal regulators in the prior administration chose to mandate that a set percentage of the 57 current lifesaving nonprofits be closed every cycle regardless of overall performance. The rule, presumably advanced in the name of efficiency, ignores both common sense and sound public health policy by decertifying these organizations based on transplant rates, a factor over which OPOs have no control. As a result, this blanket standard will disproportionately impact OPOs aiding under-resourced and underserved minority populations.”
SID&T stands with the Philadelphia City Council in recognizing that improving the health equity of organ donation and transplant requires CMS to adopt changes to its current governing Rule that reflect science based, not political, decision making.