Home / The Issues / Government Censorship of Peer-Reviewed Science

Government Censorship of Peer-Reviewed Science

At the American Transplant Congress in Philadelphia in early June, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) reportedly at CMS’ behest requested the withdrawal of the 2 Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) and 4 Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) abstracts that had been previously approved.

Did CMS/HRSA have the right to "take down" peer-reviewed research? Has anything like this happened at the American Transplant Congress before? Was HRSA trying to suppress evidence that would be seen as adverse to the full implementation of the Final Rule, including the decertification of OPOs? Or was something else going on?

According to the Boston Globe, a SRTR spokesperson said the US Health Resources and Services Administration withdrew approval of the abstracts “citing concerns about HRSA seen as being critical of CMS’ oversight of organ procurement organizations.”

Distinguished national expert and researcher Jesse Schold, PhD, MStat, MEd, Professor of Surgery, Associate Vice Chair of Policy and Outcome, Transplant Surgery, University of Colorado noted, “What occurred at the American Transplant Congress was a suppression of science by HRSA.  Organ donation and transplantation is a critical function in the health care system and current CMS metrics models are neither robust nor sophisticated.”

See the taxpayer-funded research abstracts on this page that were due for delivery.