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.”
If a measure for fossil fuels is included, the groups insist, similar support should be extended to clean energy and electric vehicles, insiders tell Cheddar.
Harnessing the cooling fans from F-150 pickups and the battery packs for its power tools, Ford on Tuesday announced that it will start making sorely-needed ventilators, respirators and medical face masks to help alleviate dire shortages as coronavirus cases surge across the country.
While the spread of the coronavirus has caused millions of layoffs across the country, select businesses are on a hiring spree to meet increased demand related to the outbreak.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Sunday said that his companies are on track to build and ship approximately 1,200 direly-needed ventilators as soon as this week.
The New York Stock Exchange’s famously hectic trading floor was dead quiet this morning as it opened for the first time in its history without traders.
Streaming video companies like YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon have all agreed to reduce the quality of their streaming videos in Europe in order to reduce the strain on Internet bandwidth during the coronavirus pandemic.
GM and Tesla are among the top U.S. automakers that are looking to potentially switch over stalled auto production into the manufacturing of badly needed medical ventilators amid the coronavirus crisis.
Square received conditional approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) late Wednesday to launch an independent bank focused on providing loans to small businesses – at a time when they’ll surely need them most.
The bank will continue to pay branch employees for their regularly scheduled hours even if they are affected by reduced hours, branch closures, or asked to stay home, the letter said. It is also giving branch employees two additional paid vacation days.
Square is making a supportive gesture to business customers going through financial pain due to the effects of social distancing in the time of COVID-19.
