IOPO®: Indiana Organ Procurement Organization, Inc.

Getting On The List

How to get on the organ transplant waiting list maintained by UNOS - the United Network for Organ Sharing.

United Network for Organ Sharing and Donate Life Logos

The process for being placed on the transplant waiting list:

  1. Request a referral from your physician.
  2. Contact a transplant hospital. Learn as much as possible about the 200+ transplant hospitals in the United States and choose one based on your needs, including insurance, location, finances and support group availability.
  3. Schedule an appointment for an evaluation and find out if you are a good candidate for transplant. During the evaluation, ask questions to learn as much as possible about that hospital and its transplant team.
  4. If the hospital's transplant team determines that you are a good transplant candidate, they will add you to the national waiting list.

When a patient is accepted for placement on a transplant program's waiting list, they are registered with the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). The OPTN is a centralized computer network linking all organ procurement organizations and transplant centers. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), an organization under contract with the federal government, maintains the OPTN. This computer network is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

When donor organs become available, the responsible organ procurement organization accesses the OPTN computer, which generates a list of patients ranked according to the OPTN policies on organ allocation. This organ sharing system took many years to develop. The system is constantly reevaluated and improvements are made when necessary to ensure that all potential transplant recipients have a fair and equitable chance to receive a donated organ.

Continue your learning experience by clicking Next to find out what it's like being on the list - waiting for an organ.

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