TUESDAY, March 10, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Implementation of an Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) wait-time modification policy in 2023, which mandated that U.S. kidney transplant programs submit wait-time modifications for Black candidates who were disadvantaged by use of a race-based equation, was associated with increased kidney transplant rates among Black patients, according to a study published online March 9 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
In a quasi-experimental study, Rohan Khazanchi, M.D., M.P.H., from Boston Children's Hospital and Boston Medical Center, and colleagues examined whether implementation of the OPTN wait-time modification policy was associated with changes in kidney transplant rates in the United States. The analysis included 181,314 kidney transplant candidates (31.1 percent Black and 68.9 percent all other racial and ethnic groups).
Overall, 21,119 transplant candidates received wait-time modifications from January 2023 through June 2025, adding a median of 1.7 years and 51,061 person-years of wait-list time in total. The researchers found that among Black candidates, policy implementation was associated with an increase of 5.3 transplants per 1,000 listings in an interrupted time series analysis, with transplant rates decreasing thereafter (−0.10 transplants per 1,000 listings per month). Implementation was associated with no significant change in overall transplant rates among all other candidates (0.6 transplants per 1,000 listings) and a parallel decreasing trend thereafter (−0.10 transplants per 1,000 listings per month).
"Our findings indicate that reparative approaches to address the harms caused by race-based clinical algorithms can help move the needle toward health equity," Khazanchi said in a statement.
One author disclosed ties to Fresenius Medical Care.