Winter 2012 - The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

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UTHSC News & News Events and Happenings Organ Procurement – Where Does UTHSC Stand? There has been much talk and publicity over the last few months regarding the issue of organ procurement in the Mid- South. Our transplant program – the UT-Methodist Transplant Institute in Memphis – performed 260 liver, kidney and pancreas transplants last year and was the fourth-largest liver transplant program in the United States. Now, our network of organ donations is being threatened by a new structure that would allow UT-Methodist Transplant Institute access to only 25 percent of organs in the state. Below are letters to the editor that Chancellor Steve Schwab, MD, transplant surgeon James Eason, MD, and Gary Shorb, president and CEO, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare (MLH), sent to The Commercial Appeal. UTHSC hopes that all faculty and staff will get on board with our efforts by writing letters of support for a waiver application for Tennessee Donor Services to be the designated Organ Procurement Organization for Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare to stop this restriction of vital organs. Submit letters through: http://www.methodisthealth.org/articles/help-the-transplant-institute-continue-saving-lives. Letter to the Editor, Something is rotten in the state of organ transplantation in Memphis. Our city is in danger of losing access to many of the organs that are donated in Tennessee for transplant; as a result, lives could be lost. As a native West Tennessean, I am deeply concerned about this threat to our lives and the lives of our children. Tennessee has had a longstanding statewide agreement to share organs donated for James Eason, MD transplant, but the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has ruled that the plan is inconsistent with federal regulations governing allocation of donor organs in the rest of the country. The solution to this life-threatening dilemma is simple. Mid-South Transplant Foundation, which is our local organ procurement organization, could merge with its Nashville-based counterpart, Tennessee Donor Services. Doing so would create a single organ procurement organization for Tennessee and restore equal access to organs – and life – for patients in West Tennessee, Memphis and other areas of the Mid-South in North Mississippi and East Arkansas. Last year Tennessee Donor Services had 220 donors compared with only 62 for the Mid-South Transplant Foundation. Without a merger, Memphians will lose primary access to those 220 donors. The Mid-South Transplant Foundation is a not-for-profit organization whose board of directors should be primarily interested in the welfare of this community they have pledged to serve. Tennessee Donor Services has been willing to merge and help Memphians, yet the Mid-South Transplant Foundation board refuses to merge to save the lives of their own friends and families in Memphis. Why would anyone choose not to save more lives in their community? The only option we see other than merger of the two organ procurement organizations is for the UT-Methodist Transplant Institute to affiliate with Tennessee Donor Services. Our 8 UT Health Science Center transplant institute has already applied to the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, for a waiver to allow Tennessee Donor Services to become our designated organ procurement organization. We are soliciting support for this request from our city’s political and civic leaders, as well as from the community at large. Although Memphians are the victims of an unintended consequence of federal policy, we must nevertheless adapt to the new regulations and come together to unify organ allocation in Tennessee for the greater good to save more lives. The times have changed, and now the time is right for the Mid-South Transplant Foundation board of directors to do the right thing. The United Network for Organ Sharing, a contractor that runs the federal organ procurement and transplant network, has dissolved Tennessee’s sharing agreement and limited Memphis to a donor service area that covers parts of West Tennessee, North Mississippi and East Arkansas. As a result, beginning at the end of this year patients in the Memphis area and other parts of West Tennessee who are awaiting an organ transplant will have access to only 25 percent of the organs donated in Tennessee; patients in the rest of the state will have access to 75 percent of those organs. This change threatens the lives of Memphians and West Tennesseans and the very existence of the transplant program that serves them. The University of Tennessee-Methodist Transplant Institute performed 260 liver, kidney and pancreas transplants last year and is the fourth-largest liver transplant program in the United States. Memphians would be parading in the streets if any of our sports teams were in the Final Four. We must show the same energy and commitment to maintaining this lifesaving resource for our community. A similar issue in 2006 and 2007 affecting the heart and lung transplant programs in Memphis has subsequently resulted in the lung transplant program being inactivated and the heart transplant program performing only 10 transplants last year. The waiting time for a heart transplant in Memphis is now four times as long as that for patients in Nashville, and patient survival is lower in Memphis. James Eason, MD Transplant Surgeon, Methodist Transplant Institute
Steve Schwab, MD Gary Shorb Letter to the Editor, We would like to set the record straight related to inaccuracies made by Mid-South Transplant Foundation in your May 11 article “Disputes erupt over transplant changes.” Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center have always had the best interest of all community members in mind. Mid-South Transplant Foundation asserts that Memphis transplant patients will not be disadvantaged by the loss of organ access in late 2012 when the Methodist/UT Transplant Institute loses access to organs provided by Tennessee Donor Services. The reality is that there will be many fewer organs available for transplant in West Tennessee; hence, fewer West Tennessee residents will get a transplant. We performed 260 transplants last A New Tree Blooms year and only 46 of our organs came from Mid-South Transplant Foundation. The difference is the number of patients who will die. The foundation also claims there will be enough livers available to support people in our community. We are on track to perform 150 liver transplants this year. Because of their limited service area, Mid-South Transplant Foundation is simply not able to meet the needs of our community’s patients. Another assertion is that the current system somehow provides an unfair advantage to UT-Methodist. They should be ashamed of that statement. Nothing is fairer than equal access to transplant organs for all Tennesseans. That is what we stand to lose at the end of this year. Residents of West Tennessee will have less access to organs than citizens in the rest of the state. For Mid-South Transplant Foundation to say that people outside the Mid-South “come here to cut in line” is absurd. The United Network for Organ Sharing encourages patients to get on more than one list and ensures that the sickest patients get organs first. Nearly 90 percent of our transplant recipients live in Tennessee, Arkansas or Mississippi. We have nothing against Mid-South Transplant Foundation. The fact is that it is the fifth-smallest organ procurement organization in the country, meaning the number of organs it procures is insufficient to serve our community. Most states have statewide OPOs and that’s all we want. We simply want our patients to have fair access to organs so they can have the best chance of living. Gary S. Shorb President and CEO, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare Steve Schwab Chancellor, University of Tennessee Health Science Center To celebrate the new MSN-CNL curriculum, faculty members and graduates gathered at the Student Alumni Center, where they planted a Gem Magnolia tree and placed an engraved stone, a gift from the first graduating class. The dedication ceremony, held in May, signified the promise of growth of the program for future generations of health care students. Nursing Annual Report Fall 2012 9
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Page 5 and 6: Message From Alumni Board President
Page 7: The University of Tennessee Medical
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Page 17 and 18: Best Predicts Undiagnosed Hypertens
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Winter 2012 - The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

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