Facilitating heart transplant candidate evaluation throughout Ohio

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Transplantation Medicine
• Health Policy

Background:

• The Ohio Solid Organ Transplantation Consortium (OSOTC) aims for equitable access to organ transplant services.
• Patient selection follows OSOTC criteria, aligned with Ohio Department of Health rules and national standards.
• Current OSOTC procedures rely on a fax-based system.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement a secure, internet-based system for the OSOTC.
• To replace the existing fax-based patient evaluation and data management procedures.
• To meet the patient evaluation and basic research needs of the OSOTC.

Main Methods:

• The University of Cincinnati's Institute for Health Policy and Health Services Research (IHPHSR) developed and implemented a new system.
• The system is a secure, internet-based platform.
• This system replaces the previous fax-based procedures.

Main Results:

• A secure internet-based system has been successfully implemented for the OSOTC.
• The new system replaces the previous fax-based procedures.
• The system is capable of handling patient evaluation and basic research data.

Conclusions:

• The new internet-based system effectively supports the OSOTC's mission.
• The implementation enhances the efficiency of organ transplant service access.
• The system meets the operational and research requirements of the consortium.