MIAMI — A federal report released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday says officials are moving to decertify the University of Miami’s Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency after investigators found years of unsafe practices, inadequate training, chronic understaffing and paperwork errors.
The agency, part of the university’s health system that has facilitated organ donations for 45 years, came under scrutiny after a 2024 error led a surgeon to turn down a donated heart for a patient awaiting a transplant.
Officials with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the findings are tied to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s reform initiative announced in July.
At that time, investigators also found troubling issues at another organ procurement organization, including cases where patients may not have been deceased at the time of organ preparation, according to the report.
The report states that HHS’ reform efforts to rebuild integrity and trust in the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) include:
- Safeguards to prevent line-skipping in organ allocation, which the report says are already protecting nearly 300 patients.
- A special election that drew record turnout to install an independent OPTN board.
- A strengthened misconduct reporting system that gives patients and providers a direct channel for safety concerns.
- A transparency tool that shows when organs are allocated outside the standard match list.
- Removal of diversity, equity and inclusion provisions from the 2024 IOTA model, which the report says was intended to ensure fairness.
“An organ procurement organization must serve as the trusted custodian of every donated organ,” Kennedy said in a news release. “Its job is to honor the gift of life by ensuring trained professionals recover every organ safely, match it fairly, and deliver it quickly to the patient who needs it most. We will not allow any participant to cut corners with human life.”
The agency also states it’s gifted over 500 organs just this year and serves six South Florida counties.
However, nearly 100,000 Americans are on transplant waitlists, and an average of 13 patients die each day waiting for an organ, according to HHS officials.
“The top priority of the Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency (LAORA) has always been safe, respectful, and compliant organ donation practices,” LAORA said in a statement to Local 10 News. “We are aware of the decision issued today by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and of the agency’s investigations into organ procurement practices across the country. We will cooperate fully with HHS to ensure a smooth transition and will not appeal. We hope that other OPOs follow suit in putting patients first. Our focus remains on protecting the dignity of donors, supporting their families, and advancing the life-saving mission of organ transplantation.”
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