The University of Wisconsin ranks first and the Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency ranks last is an Associated Press computer analysis of the nation's best and worst organ procurement organizations (OPOs).
The Associated Press compiled the list by averaging the number of transplants that the 63 OPOs in the United States enabled in 1996 and 1997 per 1,000 deaths.
At 146 transplants per 1,000 deaths, the University of Wisconsin had the greatest number of transplants by far. LifeSource came in second with 100 transplants. The university OPO serves upper Wisconsin, and LifeSource serves North Dakota, South Dakota, and parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin. The eight other OPOs that ranked in the top ten had scores of 75 to 98.
At the bottom of the list was the Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency, with 18 transplants per 1,000 deaths. OPOs in Los Angeles, New York City, and Puerto Rico also were ranked low.
The Associated Press said that 2,000 more transplants could be performed each year if each below-average OPO brought its performance up to the median, and 14,600 more transplants would be possible if every OPO performed like the top ten.
From interviews with OPOs across the country, the Associated Press identified a number of reasons that OPOs have such discrepant rates of obtaining organs. "The best organ banks work well with hospitals and have clear procedures for identifying donors and talking with families," the Associated Press said. Some of the low-ranking OPOs said that hospitals do not notify them of deaths. Low rates of donor organs per 1,000 deaths also were found in geographic regions whose residents have ethnic backgrounds that discourage organ donation and in areas where a higher proportion of deaths occur in patients who have AIDS or other diseases that make them ineligible to donate.
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