Legislation to remove financial barrier for organ donors; the Cell and Gene Therapy Access Model; trends in severe maternal morbidity – Morning Medical Update

Newly introduced bill would remove financial barriers for living organ donors

Representatives Suzan DelBene (WA-01), Larry Bucshon, MD (IN-08), Kim Schrier, MD (WA-08) and Carol Miller (WV-01) have introduced the Expanding Support for Living Donors Act to address the increasingly high costs of donations. The bill would reauthorize the Living Organ Donation Reimbursement Program through 2035, increase the maximum reimbursement amount to $10,000, double the income eligibility to close to $100,000 per year and make reimbursement eligibility based on the donor’s income instead of the recipient.
“Donors give the gift of life to their fellow Americans, but for too long the system hasn’t been designed to fully support them,” DelBene said in a news release. “This legislation would remove unnecessary financial barriers that have prevented many from donating. As the transplant list continues to grow longer and longer, we must take bold steps to support living donors.”

Biden-Harris Administration working to increase access to sickle cell disease treatments

Two drug manufacturers with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved gene therapies for sickle cell disease have agreed with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to participate in the Cell and Gene Therapy Access Model, a voluntary model that will test outcomes-based agreements for cell and gene therapies to increase health outcomes and access to cell and gene therapies and decrease health care costs.

“The Cell and Gene Therapy Access Model will increase access to promising therapies that improve the chances of people living longer, healthier lives,” Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, CMS administrator, said in a news release. “This is a new frontier in providing access for people with sickle cell disease to potentially transformative treatments. CMS is pleased that these two drug manufacturers have agreed to participate in the model and work with the agency and states in providing access to potentially curative treatments that might otherwise out of reach.”

Trends in severe maternal morbidity

A recent Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) report included a Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) statistical brief on trends in severe maternal morbidity (SMM), sorted by patient characteristics using estimates from 2016-2021. Over that span, the rate of SMM increased by 40%, from 72 cases per 10,000-delivery hospital stays in 2016 to 101.1 per 10,000-delivery hospital stays in 2021. Find the full statistical brief here.