Re: Lifesharing Question - finances

[Guest guest]

Maureen,

My sympathies to you and your family on the loss of your

brother-in-law. I hope your sister finds comfort in your support.

As a non-profit organization, I'm sure that Lifesharing has annual

financial statements available upon request. Although since

Lifesharing is a division of UCSD Medical Center, they may just be a

line item in the medical Center's budget. One way that OPOs are

financed is by charging for tissue and organ recovery expenses. These

charges are eventually paid by the patients who receive donated organs

and tissue. (Or more frequently their insurance carrier.) There are

also charges paid by transplant centers to register patients on the

waiting lists. I don't know if a portion is retained by the local OPO

or if all is collected by UNOS.

I haven't seen any OPOs with their finances available on the internet.

NY's Organ Donor Network makes an appeal for contributions to fund

their work - http://www.donatelifeny.org/financial/index.html - but

the whole aspect of running the OPOs seems to focus on what they do

rather than how it is financed.

Tim R

> His question: " Where does Life Sharing get their money? "

>

> (From their website: http://lifesharing.org/)

>

> Founded in 1984 as a division of UCSD Medical Center, Lifesharing is

one of

> 58 regional non-profits dedicated to the life-saving and life-enhancing

> benefits of organ and tissue donation. ...