Is it time for transplant centers to formalize standards like trauma centers?

Transplant centers hold the key to accelerating organ use and transplanting more patients more efficiently. However, not all transplant procedures are alike, as organ complexity and patient comorbidities can dramatically increase the risk of the procedures, demanding unique skills and more extensive resources to achieve good outcomes. What if transplant centers could emulate aspects of the trauma center model to ensure that necessary capabilities are consistently applied and uniformly available for all levels of organ risk and patient health? The proposed model recognizes that some transplant centers would have the capacity and aligned resources to care for the most complex patients and different types of organ transplants. Other transplant centers would leverage their available resources for less complex patients and organs. Importantly, this model also provides a template for regular stakeholder review of transplant program performance and episodic certification of transplant center resources. By moving to a tiered trauma center-like certification model, transplant centers, organ allocation policy, and patients could be triaged to the center most capable of providing them timely, effective care.