Fixing a Broken Chain: A New Alliance Tackles Organ Transplant Inefficiency

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – July 14, 2026

The American organ transplantation system is a study in contrasts. In 2025, the nation marked its fifth consecutive year of growth, achieving a record 49,064 successful transplants. Yet, behind this remarkable figure lies a story of profound inefficiency and missed opportunities. Over 100,000 people remain on the national waiting list, with 16 dying each day. Compounding this tragedy is a startling fact: estimates suggest that more than 28,000 viable organs go unrecovered or are discarded annually.

In response to this systemic crisis, three industry specialists—SpecialtyCare, Vituity, and Buckeye Transplant Solutions—have announced the formation of TierOne Alliance. This new entity isn't another incremental improvement but a strategic overhaul of the organ recovery process. By integrating specialized clinical services, a surgeon-led recovery model, and a powerful data analytics platform, the alliance aims to build a unified, high-reliability system designed to convert more organ offers into life-saving transplants. It represents a significant bet that a cohesive, partnership-based strategy can succeed where fragmented efforts have fallen short.

A System Under Strain

The challenges facing the nation's 56 Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) are immense and growing. Record donation volumes have been met with even greater operational complexity. Allocation policies that now span broader geographies mean organs travel farther than ever, straining a logistics network heavily reliant on commercial airlines—a system never designed for such time-sensitive, critical cargo. Delays, mishandling, and limited flight availability contribute directly to organs becoming non-viable.

This logistical friction is a key driver of the system’s staggering waste. In 2023, the non-utilization rate for recovered kidneys hit a record 28%, meaning over 8,500 kidneys were ultimately declined. The problem is even more acute for other organs, with discard rates approaching 40% for livers and 70% for thoracic organs. Furthermore, the push to use 'marginal' organs from donors after circulatory death (DCD) or those with higher risk scores—a necessary step to expand the donor pool—demands a higher level of clinical and logistical precision that the current infrastructure often struggles to provide. These cases have narrower viability windows and require advanced preservation technologies, adding layers of complexity that can overwhelm even high-performing OPOs.

“The system is outdated,” one industry analyst noted. “It has not kept pace with modern management practices or technology, leading to missed donation opportunities and a lack of accountability.” This reality, coupled with new federal rules from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that tie OPO certification to stricter performance metrics, has created an urgent need for transformative solutions.

The Alliance Model: A Bet on Integrated Strategy

TierOne Alliance’s core strategy is integration through partnership, not acquisition. This distinction is critical. Rather than consolidating assets, the alliance synchronizes the distinct expertise of its three partners into a single, cohesive workflow, from the first call about a potential donor to the final handoff of the organ for transplant.

Each partner brings a crucial piece to the puzzle:
* SpecialtyCare, a national leader in operating room services, provides the deep clinical expertise in perfusion and Normothermic Regional Perfusion (NRP). These advanced techniques are vital for assessing and improving the function of marginal organs, effectively turning what might have been a discarded organ into a viable opportunity for transplant.
* Vituity, a physician-owned multispecialty group, contributes its surgeon-led recovery model. This ensures that a high standard of clinical leadership, accountability, and consistency is embedded in every recovery, a critical factor in managing complex DCD or NRP cases.
* Buckeye Transplant Solutions supplies the technological and logistical backbone. As the country's largest provider of tech-enabled transplant coordination, it brings a robust data platform and a vast network of clinical and logistics professionals.

This structure is designed to function as a seamless extension of an OPO or transplant center, providing standardized, consistent teams for every case. “Organ recovery has become too complex to depend on ad hoc execution,” said Matt Gray, President of SpecialtyCare. “DCD, NRP, broader allocation, and advanced preservation require defined teams, reproducible workflows, and a training model that prepares surgeons and perfusion teams before they are in the field. TierOne Alliance is about building that standard—not just covering the next case, but creating a more reliable recovery system.”

From Operating Room to Data Stream

The technological linchpin of the alliance is Buckeye’s LENS™ platform. This integrated system provides a shared digital environment for what has historically been a fragmented, manual process reliant on phone calls and faxes. The platform offers all stakeholders—surgeons, perfusionists, coordinators, and logistics teams—real-time visibility into offer management, case status, and organ transport logistics.

This data-driven approach is designed to create a continuous feedback loop. By tracking every step of the recovery continuum, the system can identify bottlenecks, optimize workflows, and enable data-informed decisions that improve organ utilization. For example, by monitoring transport logistics in real time, the platform can help mitigate delays that increase ischemic time—the period an organ is without blood supply—which is a critical determinant of transplant success. Led by nationally recognized transplant leaders Dr. Hassan Tetteh of Vituity and Dr. Brian Lima of SpecialtyCare, the alliance has also developed a high-fidelity, simulation-based training curriculum to ensure every team member is prepared for the procedural complexities of modern organ recovery.

“As the nation’s largest provider of transplant services, Buckeye has built its technology platform around optimizing organ evaluation and recovery workflows to improve transplant outcomes,” explained Jared Ackley, President of Buckeye Transplant Solutions. “The TierOne Alliance brings clinical coordination, logistics, analytics, and surgical expertise into a unified ecosystem designed to reduce variability and help programs convert more opportunities into successful transplants.”

Redefining Value in a High-Stakes Market

For OPOs and transplant centers facing immense pressure to improve outcomes and control costs, the alliance’s value proposition is compelling. It offers a turnkey solution to enhance capacity, standardize quality, and improve efficiency, directly addressing the performance metrics mandated by CMS. By providing guaranteed coverage with highly trained teams, the alliance enables programs to accept more organ offers with confidence, particularly complex cases they might otherwise decline.

This model also aims to tackle the rising cost of organ recovery by driving efficiency and, most importantly, reducing the financial and human cost of organ waste. The potential for taxpayer savings is enormous, as every successful kidney transplant can save Medicare hundreds of thousands of dollars over the cost of long-term dialysis.

Ultimately, the alliance is built on a foundation of clinical accountability and a shared mission to honor the gift of donation. “We unite surgeon-led recovery with organ-preservation innovation and data-driven transplant workflows to build a system defined by precision, integrity, and accountability,” stated Dr. Hassan Tetteh, Vice President of Organ Recovery at Vituity. “This ensures every gift is honored in intention and in outcomes, transforming lives and setting a new standard for excellence.” As TierOne Alliance begins its coordinated operations, the transplant community will be watching closely to see if this strategic fusion of expertise and technology can finally mend the broken links in the chain and deliver on the promise of saving more lives.