The Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation (CLDT) at NYP/Columbia received a Silver Medal of Honor for achieving and sustaining national goals for organ donation. The award, which reflects transplants done between April 1, 2010, through March 31, 2012, was presented by the Department of Health and Human Services at the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) annual National Learning Congress in Grapevine TX. The award recognizes CLDT’s outstanding outcomes, including its high rate of transplantation and low mortality rate among patients on the waitlist for a donor organ.
The CLDT is only one of five liver transplant programs in the US to win a silver award in this category and the only program in NYC to have done so. In related news, the Lung Transplant program at NYP/Columbia won a bronze award, also for its commendable performance in organ donation.
According to UNOS, the award is part of a new way that the Donation and Transplantation Community of Practice (DTCP) has chosen to recognize the highest performing programs in the nation. The award process was developed by a special task force of the the DTCP with assistance from data experts at the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR). It is a way of measuring performance that takes into account post-transplant survival rates, transplant rates, and mortality rates after being placed on the waitlist.