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The top 5 most active transplant centers in 2014: A look at the waitlists
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According to the National Kidney Foundation, there are currently 122,403 people waiting for organ transplants in the U.S. Of these, 101,189 await kidney transplants (as of 10/8/15). The median wait time for an individual’s first kidney transplant is 3.6 years.
NN&I has been ranking the most active kidney transplant centers for more than a decade. The University of San Francisco Medical Center (UCSF) has been in the number one spot since 2009, and in the top five for many more years. But the difference between the top five is often minimal. In 2014, Jackson Memorial hospital in Miami was ranked number two, and performed only one less transplant than UCSF.
*Center not in top five for that year.
According to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Patients, UCSF had 5,198 patients on its kidney transplant waitlist at the start of 2014, and 5,196 at the end. So despite performing 354 kidney transplants, and losing 662 patients because they moved to other centers, deteriorated, or died, they maintained a stable waitlist. Jackson Memorial has a smaller waitlist, with 1,610 at the start of 2014, and 1,779 at the end.
Of course, waitlists vary by region.
The following map of US transplant regions was provided by the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network. -by Rebecca Zumoff
Region 5, which has had three of the top five most active transplant centers on it for the last three years, has the longest waiting list. Region 6 (Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington) has the shortest waiting list, and is not included in the 50 most active transplant center ranking for 2014.
*Region not in top five for that year.
The following data were provided by the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network.
