FIXING THE TRANSPLANT SYSTEM — HHS’ push to overhaul the U.S. organ transplant system is drawing congressional scrutiny. The House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee holds a hearing this morning to check in on HHS’ progress in implementing a bipartisan effort to improve the organ transplant system. How we got here: More than 100,000 people await an organ to become available, according to HHS. Since the 1980s, one nonprofit, the United Network for Organ Sharing, has been in charge — including in charge of the federal network’s board of directors. Committee leaders launched a bipartisan inquiry into UNOS last March. Under the law, the organ transplant network was decentralized by restructuring the system into manageable parts with multiple vendors. At least one contract has been awarded to a nonprofit, the American Institutes for Research, that will be responsible for setting up a new board of directors. However, as POLITICO previously reported, the reform has hit snags in recent months as members of Congress, the federal government and providers have sparred over oversight. On Wednesday, a patient advocate and two transplant doctors will urge Congress to prevent what they say are bad actors involved in the current system from electing a new board of directors. “Reconstituting a newly named board with the same group of individuals from previous governances is not reform,” Dr. Seth Karp, a transplant surgeon at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, writes in his witness statement. According to a hearing memo, officials from the Health Resources and Services Administration, which is overseeing the reform, and the president of the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network declined invites, citing short notice. The trajectory reform has similarly garnered interest in the Senate where Bill Cassidy (R-La.), ranking member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, wrote to HRSA leadership Wednesday, asking for more urgency in implementing reforms. “HRSA has been slow to implement these much-needed reforms. In fact, it just recently issued final requests for proposals (RFPs) to support multiple contract awards related to board of directors’ support and operations in May and formally incorporated an independent board of directors in June,” he wrote, asking HRSA to answer when it plans to hold a special election for a new board as well as how it will ensure board members don’t have conflicts of interest. IN SENATE CROSSHAIRS — Steward Health Care faces new Senate scrutiny this morning with Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) releasing a 10,000-word report claiming the system gutted hospitals and left patients behind in pursuit of profits, Daniel reports. Patients in several Steward-owned hospitals nationwide faced longer ER wait times and, in some instances, worse outcomes compared with national averages, according to the report — which also noted the impact of closures on employees and patients. Background: The report comes the day before Steward’s CEO, Dr. Ralph de la Torre, was subpoenaed to testify before the Senate HELP Committee. Through his lawyers, de la Torre said he wouldn’t comply, saying a court order bars him from discussing closures. A spokesperson for the CEO has denied wrongdoing. The big picture: The report suggests the problem goes beyond Steward Health Care, implicating private equity investment as putting profits before patients and workers. Similar investors have been targets of other Democrats in Congress, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s focus on their effects on nursing homes. But the concern about bad corporate behavior in U.S. health care goes beyond party. Leaders on both sides of the aisle have been dismayed over what they say are the added cost and complexity conglomerates bring to the system. Cold water: Drafting legislation that has bipartisan support, a clear path to the president’s desk and a significant impact on how the system functions remains elusive.
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