UnitedHealthcare to reimburse travel and housing expenses for kidney donors

BOSTON – UnitedHealthcare will pay travel expenses for kidney transplant donors, addressing one of the major barriers to living organ donation.

Dr. Jon Friedman, chief medical officer for Optum’s Complex Medical Conditions programs, recently announced United Healthcare’s commitment at the 2016 American Transplant Congress in Boston. Optum, the health services company managing transplant services for United Healthcare, and United Healthcare are collaborating with the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, which hosted the congress, to improve outcomes, reduce costs and improve the transplant experience of donors and recipients.

UnitedHealthcare will be the largest payer to directly reimburse living donors, from the start of their evaluation process, through follow-up visits for up to two years after donation. The donor need not be insured by United Healthcare to qualify for reimbursement. Beginning in 2017, UnitedHealthcare plans will reimburse up to $5,000 for lodging and travel expenses for the kidney donor and a companion, starting with the donor’s initial evaluation to determine suitability, through follow-up evaluations up to two years after donor surgery. The reimbursement will be available for all donors whose intended transplant recipients are enrolled in UnitedHealthcare fully insured plans, effective Jan. 1, 2017.

Why the focus on kidney transplant donors?

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“There are more than 100,000 people waiting for a kidney transplant, so we wanted to start … where this program will have the most impact,” Maria Gordon Shydlo, United Healthcare’s public relations director, told Providence Business News. “Should it prove successful in increasing the number of donations – and we have every hope it will – we look forward to expanding it to other types of transplants.” United Healthcare is not providing any projection on how many people the company expects might access this resource, she said.

“Many healthy people are eligible to donate a kidney, yet only one-third of kidney transplants come from living donors,” Friedman, who is responsible at Optum for transplantation and chronic and end-stage kidney disease, said in a news release. “This initiative will make it easier for living kidney donors to provide a life-saving gift to patients and their families.”

According to the AST, 96 percent of kidney donors experience donation-related financial consequences. While the need for kidney transplants continues to increase, the number of donor kidneys falls far short of demand. In 2015, only about 20 percent of those on the kidney transplant waiting list received a transplant, according to data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. Living donors are the best source to grow the pool of kidneys available for transplantation.

Dr. James Allan, president of the American Society of Transplantation, said in a statement, “UnitedHealthcare and Optum’s efforts to address the issue of late-stage kidney disease are significant. We hope this is only the first step as our health care system works to remove financial and other barriers to organ donation.”

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