In November, at the Sixth National Learning Congress the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will honor Iowa Methodist Medical Center with a Silver Medal of Honor. This award was given to hospitals who met 75 percent conversion rate and OTPD (organs transplanted per donor).

 Iowa Methodist has received a Medal of Honor every year for the six years the Collaborative has been in place. In 2009, Iowa Methodist was one of 30 hospitals to get the Gold Medal of Honor.

 "We are very proud to receive this recognition for supporting organ donation," said Eric Crowell, President and CEO, UnityPoint Health - Des Moines. "These improvements in organ donation help to save lives all across our country and we are glad that we can be a part of it."

 Iowa Methodist and Blank came from a pool of 716 hospitals that meet the Medal of Honor eligibility criteria of eight or more potential organ donors during a set time period.

 "Iowa Donor Network is pleased that Iowa Methodist Medical Center and Blank Children's Hospital is once again being recognized for their outstanding work in organ donation in Iowa.  The administration and staff should be proud of their work in saving lives through donation."  Suzanne Conrad, CEO Iowa Donor Network.

 The remarkable national increases in organ donation have developed out of HRSA's series of Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaboratives.  This model brings together donation and transplantation professionals and hospital leaders to identify and share best practices to integrate organ donation into the hospital's end-of-life continuum of care.  This year, the importance of including specialists in donor designation has been recognized so that it is possible to better honor the wishes of Americans who want to be donors at the end of their lives.  Staff from HRSA and the OPOs help participating hospitals identify, adapt, test, and implement practices essential to an effective and family-centered donation program.

 The 428 winning hospitals came from a pool of 663 hospitals that met eligibility criteria.  The winning hospitals are those with eight or more potential organs donors during the 22-month award period ending in April 2009.  These hospitals were awarded based on their performance in meeting or exceeding a combination of the three national goals. 

 In 2008, of the total number of transplanted organs, 78 percent came from deceased donors and 22 percent from living donors.  The commitment of the individuals and organizations comprising the Donation and Transplantation Community of Practice has made it possible to transplant 3,088 more organs from deceased donor in 2008 than in 2003.