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Health Systems Bureau

The Health Systems Bureau (HSB) protects the public health and improves the health of individuals through programs that provide national leadership and direction in targeted areas.

Organ Donation and Transplantation

HSB's Organ Donation and Transplantation programs extend and enhance the lives of individuals with end-stage organ failure for whom an organ transplant is the most appropriate therapeutic treatment. 

Key Program Elements:

  • Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), the national system that allocates and distributes donor organs to individuals waiting for an organ transplant;
  • Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) uses OPTN data and simulation models to improve OPTN policy development and produces bi-annual reports of organ procurement;
  • Increasing the number of donor organs made available for transplantation.

C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program

The C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program provides support to patients who need a potentially life-saving bone marrow transplant or cord blood transplant. For some patients who have leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell anemia, or other inherited metabolic or immune system disorders, a marrow or cord blood transplant may be their best chance to live longer, healthier lives.

The National Cord Blood Inventory (NCBI) is responsible for building a genetically and ethnically diverse inventory of 150,000 new units of high-quality umbilical cord blood for transplantation.

These cord blood units, as well as other units in the inventories of participating cord blood banks, are made available to physicians and patients for blood stem cell transplants through the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program. 

Injury Compensation Programs

Two HRSA programs give individuals injured by vaccines and, in the case of declared national health emergencies, other medical interventions, a streamlined system for compensation for their injuries.

The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program provides compensation to people (children and adults) for injuries and death from certain vaccines recommended for routine administration to children and adults, such as seasonal flu vaccine, measles, mumps, rubella or polio.

The Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program provides compensation to individuals for serious physical injuries or deaths from pandemic, epidemic, or security countermeasures, such as the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine (swine flu vaccine) and treatments.

National Hansen’s Disease (Leprosy) Program

The National Hansen’s Disease Program (NHDP) has cared for people with Hansen’s Disease (leprosy) and related conditions since 1894. The program provides medical care to any patient living in the United States or its territories through direct patient care at its facilities in Louisiana, contracted inpatient services in Hawaii, and 11 contracted regional outpatient clinics. 

Currently there are 3,660 patients cared for through the NHDP’s outpatient clinics. The program is a crucial source of continuing education for providers dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of the disease in the United States. 

Research conducted by the NHDP at its laboratory in Baton Rouge, and through the research conducted at the Louisiana State University, has led to the development and implementation of cell and molecular biology tools and improved prevention and treatment protocols for Hansen's Disease.

Did you know?

  • Today and every day, about 77 people in the U.S. receive an organ transplants and 19 people die waiting for a donated organ. 
  • At any given time, 6,000 patients are searching for a matched marrow donor or cord blood unit.
  • According to the CDC, from 2006 to 2014 over 2.5 billion doses of covered vaccines were distributed in the U.S. For petitions filed in this time period, 3,373 petitions were adjudicated by the Court, and of those 2,129 were compensated. This means for every 1 million doses of vaccine that were distributed, 1 individual was compensated.
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