00:00The gentleman yields. The chair recognizes the gentleman from Idaho, Mr. Fulcher, for his five
00:05minutes of questioning. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Lynch, thank you for being here today.
00:09Some of us have not been through this process personally, and I think that might be a blessing,
00:17but at the same time, that may also indicate that we're less familiar with some of the
00:21particulars that you're addressing here today. And I know that some of us have come back to you
00:28with the same general topic a time or two, and I'm probably no different, but I want to frame this
00:35in a way that may open you up to make some comments that you haven't to some of the other questions.
00:40And it has to do, of course, with the public safety responsibility that we have on the congressional
00:44side and just the public trust that we want to try to foster. So it's essential for those of us here
00:52in the congressional panel to investigate and address situations that could result in harm to public safety.
00:58including improper practices and organ donation. We're also sensitive, as has been pointed out,
01:05that this can have an impact on the public perception of the process. So in light of all of that,
01:11can you just take a moment and perhaps touch on some specific steps that HRSA can take
01:18to make sure that public trust is where it needs to be?
01:24Mike, microphone.
01:25Public trust is earned, and it is something that should not be expected in this process.
01:30We have an opt-in system. There are 170 million Americans who have made the brave choice that they
01:36would wish to be an organ donor. We want to be able to reassure them that the care that they will get
01:41is safe, that the documentation of their status, their wishes, and their progress through the system
01:47is safe and complete. That is being addressed through the policy directive that we have.
01:54In cases where an individual identifies something that was adverse, we want to make sure that all those
01:59concerns are relayed to us and are able to be directed to the appropriate entities. That doesn't mean
02:04that every report we get is going to be substantiated, but they should all have their review.
02:12Thank you for that. In your written testimony, there was a quote that I picked out there that I
02:19want to just refresh your memory on. Here's your quote, and then I've got a question related to it.
02:25You said that HRSA aims to foster an environment where providers, patients, and families feel safe to
02:33report their concerns. If an individual who has, like me, with very little or no experience with an organ
02:44donation system and got a concern and want to report that, does HRSA have an easy to access
02:54navigate mechanism to report or to make a report?
02:59Yes. This spring, we unveiled a new website, OPTN complaints, OPTN whistleblower. Any entry of words
03:07like that will bring you to a government website to make such a complaint. And then in the evaluation
03:13of those, it's critical to have a denominator, so to speak. So getting those other data to know how often,
03:19if a negative event happened, how often is that occurring? Essentially creating a rate for it.
03:25And so that's why getting a better data environment with the ventilated patient form is so deeply
03:30important. With that, Mr. Chairman, I'll just make the closing comment that, you know, some of the,
03:37some of the things that we get involved with on this committee may not be in our real sphere of
03:44expertise. But it's also a reminder of just how important that some of these components are. And in
03:51this one is truly impactful on life and death. So thank you for what you do. And let's all just
04:01commit ourselves to trying to make the process better. With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
04:05The gentleman yields. The chair recognizes the general lady from Massachusetts,
04:10Ms. Trahan for her five minutes of questioning. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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