118 HR 9939 IH: Organ Donation Referral Improvement Act U.S. House of Representatives 2024-10-04 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I118th CONGRESS2d SessionH. R. 9939IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESOctober 4, 2024Mr. Wittman (for himself, Ms. McClellan, Mr. Costa, and Mrs. Miller-Meeks) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and CommerceA BILLTo direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, to conduct a study on existing efforts of hospitals with respect to electronic automated referrals for purposes of organ donation, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Organ Donation Referral Improvement Act.

2.

Studying electronic automated referral for organ donations

(a)

In general

Not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (referred to in this Act as the Secretary), shall conduct and complete a study on existing efforts of hospitals with respect to electronic automated referrals for purposes of organ donation.(b)

Study components

The study conducted under subsection (a) shall—(1)identify savings in staff time, variation in timeliness to determine eligibility for organ donation, as well as potential improvement over human interaction for the identification of potential organ donors, if any, attained through the use of electronic automated referrals; (2)identify benefits, if any, in identifying potential organ donors through the use of electronic medical records and standardized clinical criteria; (3)review the impact of such electronic automated referrals, without the need for manual reporting, on donation volumes;(4)assess published peer-reviewed clinical literature on such electronic automated referrals;(5)review best practices for using such electronic automated referrals;(6)review information technology practices to ensure the secure transmission of information for purposes of such referrals;(7)develop recommendations to promote the use of such electronic automated referrals; and(8)identify what actions are needed to establish the use of such electronic automated referrals nationwide.(c)

Report

Not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate a report on the results of the study conducted under subsection (a).(d)

Electronic automated referral defined

In this section, the term electronic automated referral means an electronic system that identifies potential deceased organ donors via clinical criteria in a patient’s electronic health record and automatically refers such patients to the hospital’s collaborating organ procurement organization.