Gift of Life Michigan is a federally designated organ procurement organization (OPO) that facilitates the transplant of close to 800 organs each year. When an organ is available for transplant, a donation coordinator travels to the hospital, gathers the organ and other relevant data, and enters it into UNet, an online database maintained by the United Network for Organ Sharing
that links OPOs to transplant surgeons across the country to facilitate a match. Medical images were not available with other data in the system, which slowed the transplant process.
The Challenge
Gift of Life needed a fast, easy way to get medical images to transplant surgeons.
• Imaging CDs and VPNs not feasible means for organ procurement and transplant cases
• In some cases, surgeons had no choice but to take expensive, time-consuming flights to determine organ viability
• Existing UNet workflow connects stakeholders to all needed data, except imaging
“The images have been easily accessible and of high quality. That is crucial for us to fulfill our mission of saving and improving lives through donation and transplantation.”