Southwest Transplant Alliance announced on Dec. 3 that it will extend its electronic referral technology for potential organ donors to health systems throughout Texas.
STA's technology automatically connects to a hospitals EHR system and as patient data is entered into the EHR, the platform alerts STA when a potential donor has met the clinical triggers needed for organ and tissue donation.
"Implementing this technology platform knits together hospital medical records and our donor records to help drive a more efficient process and increase the number of organs available for transplant," said Patti Niles, president and CEO of STA, according to the news release.
Over the past year, STA led a pilot program with Christus Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler, Texas, to test the automated electronic referral system. From January through October 2019, there was a 40 percent increase in organ donor referrals which led to a 100 percent increase in the lives saved from the transplants from donors at the hospital compared to the same time period in 2018.
The pilot program also saw a 52 percent increase in tissue referrals and a 31 percent increase in tissue donors at the hospital.