Lost in Transplantation : Evaluating the Efficiency of Organ Procurement in the United States

In this paper, we provide a broad analysis of the performance of organ procurement organizations (OPOs) in the United States and investigate factors affecting the number and quality of procured organs. Using comprehensive data from 51 OPOs’ annual cost reports from 2015 to 2020, we find wide variability in the number of procured organs and the percentage of non-viable organs across the different OPOs, and we empirically explain the drivers behind the geographic disparities. We find that the variability is partly explained by the geographic area an OPO covers, the percentage of the population registered as organ donors, the total number of OPO employees, the number of organ-donating hospitals and transplant centers per OPO, and the cause of death (especially drug-induced and motor-vehicle-accident-related). Our findings can help practitioners and policymakers improve the organ procurement process using concrete data and statistical tools