Hospital Development and the Performance of Organ Procurement Organizations

With more than 56,000 patients on the national waiting list for organ transplants and relatively little growth in the number of donors, organ procurement organizations now recognize the need to aggressively market their services and the range of donor procurement opportunities to hospital personnel. This study examines the types and levels of hospital development activities being conducted by organ procurement organizations, the characteristics of organ procurement organizations that are more involved in hospital development, and the relationship between hospital development and organ procurement. Results from a national survey indicate that, as of the mid-1990s, organ procurement organizations had not made major investments in hospital development despite an increased recognition of the importance of these activities. Organ procurement organizations whose directors were more committed to hospital development exhibited higher levels of hospital development activity. Efforts to formalize hospital development activities through the establishment of a hospital development department and evaluation standards were associated with more organs procured per donor.