Grassley, Wyden Probe Troubling Hire at United Network for Organ Sharing

Grassley, Wyden Probe Troubling Hire at United Network for Organ Sharing

Top Finance Committee lawmakers are demanding explanation from UNOS

WASHINGTON - Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the former and current chairmen of the Senate Finance Committee and co-authors of a bipartisan law to reform the U.S. organ donation system, are raising concerns regarding a potentially unethical hire at the long-troubled United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).

UNOS, which has exclusively controlled the organ system for the past 40 years, in April announced the appointment of Ankit Mathur as its Chief Technology Officer. Mathur previously worked at the U.S. Digital Service (USDS), where he was responsible for overseeing and evaluating UNOS' failed technology used to track the national organ transplant waitlist. UNOS' decision to hire Mathur flies in the face of clear and repeated warnings from the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) and may give UNOS an unfair advantage in the upcoming bidding process to retain management of the organ donation system.

Grassley and Wyden are digging into UNOS' and Mathur's actions and the obstacles they may present to ensuring full and open competition for critical contracts in the organ donation system. "We are concerned UNOS has not taken this matter as seriously as it should," the senators wrote in letters sent to UNOS, HRSA and the Office of Management and Budget. "…[I]t is imperative that UNOS take the appropriate steps to ensure there are no conflicts of interest or undue influence related to any contract extension as the [U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network] sole contractor."

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