More than 60 research hospitals — including Duke, Stanford and the University of California at San Francisco — could soon lose access to organ screening and quick transportation arrangements for transplants as provider Buckeye Transplant Services is in danger of losing access to data from the United Network for Organ Sharing, the Washington Post reported July 4.
UNOS has threatened to cut off Buckeye, claiming that the company "uses an automated tool to retrieve unauthorized data from its network," which is not in compliance with its data use policies. UNOS extended its compliance deadline for the company to July 19; if it fails to comply by then and UNOS does revoke its access to necessary databases that keep the company operating, "the company would effectively be out of business," according to the Post.
However, Buckeye Transplants asserts it is in the right and filed a lawsuit July 3against UNOS and asked for an injunction that would stop the organization from restricting its access to the data on the basis that its work is essential as the largest organ screening company in the country.
If surgeries begin to become affected or canceled amid the ongoing dispute, a spokesperson for the Health Resources and Services Administration, which oversees national organ transplant systems, told the Post the administration would step in.