Today the National Kidney Registry (NKR) and University of California, San Francisco Medical Center (UCSF) announced that all living kidney donors who donate at UCSF will be provided Donor Shield protections through the NKR.
These living donor protections include reimbursement for lost wages, travel and lodging, in addition to donation life insurance, donation disability insurance, legal support and financial coverage for any uncovered complications that may rarely arise.
This advances the promise from President Trump’s recent executive order announcement to support “the selfless individuals who donate kidneys by granting them reimbursement for extra expenses associated with organ donation such as lost wages.”
“As the first transplant center in the western United States to implement Donor Shield, we are thrilled that this program can be provided to our donors because it is the right thing to do,” said Dr. Chris Freise, Surgical Director of the Living Donor Kidney Transplant Program at UCSF. “All disincentives to living donation should be eliminated so that donors are protected from as many donation-related risks as possible.”
Valerie Chipman, Lead Transplant Exchange Coordinator from UCSF, commented, “We have been utilizing Donor Shield for our NKR participating donors since July, and it has been greatly appreciated by our donors and their caretakers. The expansion of the Donor Shield program to all of our donors will help reduce disincentives to kidney donation for these heroes who are in turn helping to get many more patients off dialysis. Our living kidney donors deserve the best protections available.”
“As a kidney donor myself, I am excited to see many top transplant centers adopting Donor Shield protections for the brave donors who are giving the gift of life,” said Garet Hil, CEO of the National Kidney Registry. “Donor Shield already covers all NKR donors and will soon be implemented at a dozen centers for direct donation transplants, allowing us to cover approximately 1,300 donors per year—which is approximately 20% of all U.S. living kidney donors.”
About UCSF’s Living Kidney Program
The UCSF Connie Frank Transplant Center provides care for patients before and after kidney transplants. Established in 1964, our program serves as a major transplant center for the West. Our kidney team evaluates over 1,000 patients a year as potential transplant candidates and performs more than 325 transplants a year. In 2015, we performed more kidney and combined kidney-pancreas transplants than any other program in the U.S., according to data from the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network.
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