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Biden-Harris Administration's HHS Proposes Rule to Reduce Racial Disparities in Kidney Transplants for Black Patients

May 15, 2024, 07:34 PM

The Biden-Harris Administration's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has proposed a new rule aimed at reducing racial disparities in kidney transplants, particularly among Black patients. This initiative seeks to increase access to kidney transplants for all individuals with end-stage renal disease by addressing racial biases in the transplant system. The proposal follows the discovery that an outdated medical test had inappropriately calculated the necessity for transplants, resulting in over 14,000 Black kidney transplant candidates being moved up on the waitlist. In 2021, 32% of kidney patients on the national waitlist were Black, but only 13.5% of recipients of a transplant from a living donor were Black, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients Annual Data Report. Meanwhile, White patients made up 35.8% of the waitlist and 61.8% of transplant recipients from a living donor. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra stated that the organ transplant industry is not immune to racial inequities and emphasized the administration's commitment to removing racial bias and inequity in the transplant process.