2021 ANNUAL REPORT
ABOUT MIDWEST TRANSPLANT NETWORK Midwest Transplant Network has been connecting lives through organ donation since 1973. As the federally designated not-for-profit organ procurement organization (OPO) for Kansas and the western two-thirds of Missouri, Midwest Transplant Network provides services including organ procurement; surgical tissue and eye recovery; laboratory testing and 24hour rapid response for referrals from hospital partners. Midwest Transplant Network ranks in the top 10% in the country among OPOs, which reflects the organization’s quality, professionalism and excellence in partnerships throughout the region.
MISSION SAVING LIVES BY HONORING THE GIFT OF ORGAN AND TISSUE DONATION WITH DIGNITY AND COMPASSION
VISION LEADING ORGAN AND TISSUE DONATION THROUGH EXCELLENCE, QUALITY AND PARTNERSHIPS
MTN was proud to honor donor hero Christopher Hutson Jr at the 2022 Rose Parade®. His family — including parents Christopher Hutson Sr (left) and Carthesa Hutson — traveled to Pasadena, California, to help decorate the Donate Life Rose Parade® float and attend the parade.
RAISING THE BAR Midwest Transplant Network (MTN) performed among the top organ procurement organizations (OPOs) nationally in 2021 for number of organ donors and number of organs transplanted. These records represent our continual commitment to saving and enhancing more lives through organ, eye and tissue donation. Our staff members strive each day to reduce the waitlist for organ transplants and to provide tissues for those in need. The mission of MTN impacts the lives of all recipients, the recipients’ family members and friends as well as donor families and friends. This hard work contributed to the U.S. officially surpassing 40,000 transplants in one year for the first time in 2021. We continued raising the bar to improve our performance for all those whose lives can be transformed by donation, and our hard work paid off. We proudly ranked No. 1 among organ procurement organizations nationally for the number of organ donors and No. 2 for the number of transplants as compared to the expected number for hospital-eligible deaths. These metrics are based on the most recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services report, which reflects data from the 2019 calendar year. So much of MTN’s success is credited to our incredible donation community: our transplant center and hospital partners as well as the generosity of those in our service area who say “yes” to donation. Our volunteer Ambassadors and licensing, treasury and Department of Revenue partners also are vital to these accomplishments. We are grateful for everyone who plays a role in the donation process, and we look forward to saving and enhancing more lives together in 2022 and beyond. Warm regards,
Jan Finn, RN, MSN President & Chief Executive Officer Midwest Transplant Network
ORGAN Partnership Gives New Meaning to Donation in Uncertain Times In addition to the many obvious devastating impacts COVID-19 has had on communities worldwide, the pandemic also impacted the number of transplants provided to transplant centers from organ procurement organizations. With so many unknowns throughout the early months, out of an abundance of caution for recipients, transplant centers nationally declined organs from potential donors who tested positive for the coronavirus. In 2021, Midwest Transplant Network began recovering organs from COVID-19 positive donors, beginning with kidneys in partnership with Alvin Wee, MD, MBA, Program Director — Kidney Transplantation from the Cleveland Clinic. From July 27 – Dec. 31, 2021, 46 kidneys, five livers, two hearts and one pancreas were transplanted from MTN donors who were COVID-19 positive at the time they went to the operating room.
MTN invited hospital partners to the annual Critical Care Donation Symposium, which returned in person in 2021 after being held virtually in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Out of these unfortunate deaths we are seeing, our partnership is bringing meaning,” said Dr. Wee. “This is something that we should be proud of.”
ORGANS TRANSPLANTED
KIDNEYS
491
LIVERS
206
LUNGS
148
HEARTS
101
PANCREATA
29
INTESTINES
6
MTN’s state-of-the-art Donor Care and Surgical Recovery Unit (DCU) includes tissue procurement operating room space. While construction on the DCU continues into 2022, staff members already use the new tissue area.
TISSUE Department Adapts to a Changing Landscape In 2021, our Tissue Procurement team had to be very agile due to coronavirus-related changes in the tissue industry. Our team stepped up to the plate to honor our donor heroes to help thousands of grateful recipients. In December, we began recovering tissues from donors in the new operating room of our Donor Care and Surgical Recovery Unit. This specialized facility at MTN’s headquarters will help streamline donation processes for organ and tissue donors.
TISSUES RECOVERED SKIN (DERMIS)
1,504
CORNEAS
1,177
BONE (MUSCULOSKELETAL)
1,024
FEMORAL AND SAPHENOUS VEINS
913
HEART VALVES
322
FINANCE REVENUE ORGAN
68% TISSUE
18% LABORATORY
14%
EXPENSES ORGAN
70% TISSUE
12% LABORATORY
18%
Christina Bishop, MT(ASCP), PhD F(ACHI), pioneered MTN’s new Kidney Paired Donation Program, which supports living donation and is available to all transplant programs served by MTN’s HLA Laboratory.
LABORATORY Paired Donation Program Launches to Support Living Donation Strong partnerships with hospitals and transplant centers are vital to MTN’s success. As part of our efforts to lead organ, eye and tissue donation through excellence, quality and partnerships, the Laboratory team was pleased to launch the MTN Kidney Paired Donation (KPD) Program in 2021. Through careful policy development and tailored matching software, the MTN KPD Program offers a way to help patients find compatible living donors. Transplant program partners can add their recipient and living donor pairs to the MTN KPD Program to search for compatible transplant options to maximize the gift of living donation. MTN and the Laboratory team are dedicated to helping the transplant community increase the number of kidney transplants from living donors and to improving recipient-donor matches for optimal outcomes. This effort is in alignment with the Health Resources & Services Administration’s End-Stage Renal Disease Treatment Choices Learning Collaborative goals.
BREAKDOWN PERFORMED FOR DONORS AND PATIENTS 39%
61%
DONORS
TISSUES
8%
ORGANS
26%
PATIENTS
BONE MARROW
5%
KIDNEYS
41%
BONE HEARTS MARROW
11% 9%
HOSPITAL SERVICES Increasing Referrals Help Increase Organs for Transplant MTN expanded our referral criteria in 2021. The expanded criteria are the result of recognizing an increase in the number of familyinitiated donation discussions for patients without a neurological injury. We began tracking non-neurologically injured donation after circulatory death (DCD) data and outcomes from Jan. 1, 2020, through May 31, 2021, to see if there was an opportunity to save more lives — and there was. MTN recovered organs from 31 out of 40 eligible donors, who were ventilated patients suffering from interstitial lung disease, pneumonia, respiratory failure or COVID-19. We thank our hospital partners for their role in a 78% conversion rate, which helped transplant an additional 39 recipients during that timeframe. Starting July 1, 2021, the expanded criteria became our standard of practice. Doing so provided an increased opportunity for donor heroes and their families to create this legacy and save lives. Because of our partner hospitals’ great care of donors and their families in support of organ donation, an additional 41 organs were transplanted through December 2021 for a total of 80 based on these new criteria. We will continue refining our processes and working closely with our partners to save even more lives going forward. This is the nature of the MTN team and how we adapt to the ever-changing nature of donation and transplantation.
Hospital Services Coordinator II Kyle Petersen, RN, BSN (left), and In-house Hospital & Family Services Coordinator Lisa Heideman, LMSW, discuss progress made possible by MTN’s expanded referral criteria.
EDUCATION AND OUTREACH Fifth Annual Donate Life Legacy Walk Reaches Global Audience
Legacy Walk 2021
After a completely virtual Donate Life Legacy Walk in 2020, we were so pleased to bring the event back to life in person as well as virtually. We saw participation from 14 states, Washington, D.C., Mexico and Spain through our all-day programming on social media, and nearly 1,900 in-person registrants enjoyed time together set to the talents of cover band Funk Syndicate. The National WWI Museum and Memorial was the perfect venue to celebrate the event and will set the stage again on June 4, 2022, as donor families, recipients and others raise awareness of the need for organ, eye and tissue donation.
KEY PARTNERSHIPS
250 HOSPITAL PARTNERS
Legacy Walk 2021
5
TRANSPLANT CENTER PARTNERS
200+
LICENSING, TREASURY AND DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE PARTNERS
DONOR FAMILY SUPPORT Connecting in Person and Virtually to Honor Donor Heroes
Donor Family Day at Warm Springs Ranch
Although we faced continued challenges in 2021 associated with the coronavirus pandemic, we were grateful to connect in person with donor families at events for the first time since early 2020. Additionally, we provided multiple virtual connection opportunities, allowing us to support families in our service area and beyond. In October, we joined donor families at Warm Springs Ranch in Boonville, Missouri, to honor donor heroes with a sand ceremony and tour of the home of the Budweiser Clydesdales. Families could also view the Donor Memorial Quilt that was on display, pick up donation-related goodies and enjoy dinner together outside. We enjoyed celebrating the holiday season and the gift of life with donor families at Hope for the Holidays, held in 2021 in Kansas City’s historic Union Station. Families could bring ornaments honoring their loved one to hang on an MTN-branded tree that was on display through early January. The tree drew attention from many Union Station visitors — including several donor families — long after the event. Multiple families said the display was meaningful in honoring their loved one and that they hoped it would inspire people to join the organ, eye and tissue donor registry.
Sand ceremony at Warm Springs Ranch
BY THE LETTER
1,200+
LETTERS EXCHANGED BETWEEN DONOR FAMILIES AND RECIPIENTS
12,500+
LETTERS SENT TO DONOR FAMILIES AND HEALTHCARE STAFF REGARDING THE OUTCOMES OF OUR DONOR HEROES’ GIFTS
~10,000
LETTERS SENT TO DONOR FAMILIES REMEMBERING THEIR LOVED ONE AND OFFERING SUPPORT A donor family member honors a loved one by hanging an ornament on MTN’s tree in Union Station during the Hope for the Holidays donor family event.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2021 GOVERNING BOARD
Sarah Oakley, RN, MSN (Vice President, Chief
Reagan Cussimanio, JD (Governmental Affairs
OFFICERS
Ken Powell (Senior Portfolio Manager, Equities |
Pranavkumar Dalal, MD (Transplant
Steve Reintjes Sr., MD (President and Chief
Jameson Forster, MD (Transplant Surgeon |
David Theis (Garnett, Kansas) Brad Warady, MD (Division Director, Pediatric
Carole Freiberger-O’Keefe, DO (Critical
Chair: Barbara MacArthur RN, MN (Vice President
of Cardiac Services | The University of Kansas Health System)
Vice Chair: Stevan Whitt, MD (Chief Medical Officer | University of Missouri Health Care)
Second Vice Chair: Sameer Brahmavar (Prairie Village, Kansas) Immediate Past Chair: Michael Borkon, MD (President | Mid America Heart & Lung Surgeons, PC)
BOARD MEMBERS Thomas Crouch, MD (Kansas City, Missouri) Kevin Dishman, MD (Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer | Stormont Vail Health)
Michael R. Dunaway (Leawood, Kansas) Gary Duncan, LFACHE (President Emeritus | Freeman Health System)
Sean Kumer, MD (Vice President and Surgical
Director, Liver Transplantation |The University of Kansas Health System)
Richard Muther, MD (Founding Partner | Kidney Associates of Kansas City)
Nursing Officer | North Kansas City Hospital) Mariner Wealth Advisors)
Executive Officer | North Kansas City Hospital)
| The University of Kansas Health System)
Nephrologist | Kidney Associates of Kansas City) Saint Luke’s Health System)
Care Medicine | Saint Luke’s Health System)
Nephrology | Children’s Mercy Kansas City)
Alexandra Garrick, MSEd (VHA
2021 ADVISORY BOARD
Ronda Horstman, CTBS (Tissue Bank
Chair: Tracie Baker (Donor Family Member | Prairie
James Kaplan, MD (Pulmonary/Internal
Village, Kansas)
BOARD MEMBERS Cathy Ashbaugh, RN (Clinical Nurse Specialist | University of Missouri Health Care)
Aliessa Barnes, MD (Medical Director, Pediatric
Cardiac Transplantation | Children’s Mercy Kansas City)
Representative | National Kidney Foundation) Representative | Community Tissue Services)
Medicine | Kansas Pulmonary & Sleep Specialists)
Todd Murphy, MD (Surgeon | Wichita Trauma and Surgical Critical Care Associates)
Carol Perry, RN, BSN, FACHE (Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer | Stormont Vail Health)
Timothy Schmitt, MD, FACS (Professor
of Surgery and Chief of Transplant | The University of Kansas Medical Center)
Tony Bavuso (Chief Executive Officer | Saving Sight) Christina Bishop, PhD (HLA Laboratory
Davin Turner, DO (Family Practice | Mosaic Life
Geoffrey Blatt, MD, FAAN (Neurosurgeon |
University of Missouri Health Care)
Director | Midwest Transplant Network)
Care)
Mark Wakefield, MD (Transplant Surgeon |
Midwest Neurosurgery Associates)
Dana Buchmueller, RN (Intensive Care Unit |
EMERITUS BOARD MEMBERS
Jimi Cook, DVM, PhD, OTSC (Director of
Thomas H. Estep, MD (Wichita, Kansas) Gilbert Ross Jr., MD (University of Missouri
Research Medical Center)
Thompson Laboratory for Regenerative Orthopaedics | University of Missouri Health Care)
Health Care)
MTN’S LEADERSHIP TEAM C-SUITE EXECUTIVES President & Chief Executive Officer: Jan Finn, RN, MSN Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer: Tina Kirsch, MS Vice President & Chief Operating Officer: Lori Markham, RN, MSN Treasurer/Chief Financial Officer: Terry Shambles, FACHE, FHFMA
MTN President & Chief Executive Officer Jan Finn, RN, MSN, speaks at the 2021 Excellence in Donation awards ceremony.
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