The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released a plan to overhaul the nation's organ transplant system, which has long been plagued by sometimes lethal delays and IT failures.
The plan will open the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) to competitive bidding, with the goal of upgrading the system to meet industry-leading standards designed to improve data-tracking and how organs are matched with patients.
“Every day, patients and families across the United States rely on the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network to save the lives of their loved ones who experience organ failure,” said Carole Johnson, HRSA Administrator, in a news release.
The overhaul follows a series of reports from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the White House's U.S. Digital Service that showed widespread failures in the system.
“At HRSA, our stewardship and oversight of this vital work is a top priority," Johnson said. "That is why we are taking action to both bring greater transparency to the system and to reform and modernize the OPTN. The individuals and families that depend on this life-saving work deserve no less.”
U.S. stocks saw a jump in the final hour of Thursday's session, and ultimately closed slightly higher for the day. Tim Pagliara, Chief Investment Officer of CapWealth, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss. "The markets have had to digest a lot of action from the federal reserve this quarter and it's affecting everything from mortgage rates to how they value stocks," he said.
The month of April is also known as financial literacy month, and Investopdia marked the occasion this year by surveying 4,000 U.S. adults - 1,000 each from Generation Z, millennial, Generation X, and baby boomer generations - to try to get a better sense of where each generation stands when it comes to their understanding of all things money. The survey found that while many Americans have invested in crypto, most have much more to learn about digital currency. Investopedia Editor in Chief Caleb Silver joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
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Christine Doig, director of product innovation at Netflix, joins Cheddar News to discuss the streamers interactive content and its new Two Thumbs Up feature.
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, social media giant Meta said that it's using its technology to help the beleaguered nation Erin Egan, chief privacy officer, and Andrew Schroeder, vice president of research and analysis for direct relief, joined Cheddar News to discuss using data towards humanitarian relief. "Our goal with the program is to help organizations on the ground by sharing privacy-protected data sets to enable them to respond to crisis," Egan explained.
