NLDAC program expansion means greater impact on donor opportunities
Most will go to great lengths to help when a loved one requires an organ transplant. Knowing that financial disincentives can be a major consideration, the National Living Donor Assistance Center (NLDAC) was created to help alleviate financial stresses related to travel to transplant centers for qualified living donors. Other, non-medical donation-related expenses are often not reimbursed by insurance, making donation an impossible option. Most living organ donors require income replacement while recovering from donation surgery.
In February of 2021, NLDAC expanded the program to support dependent care expenses (child-care, disabled adult care, and elder-care 65+), in addition to the travel expenses and lost wages that result from the donation. The lost wage reimbursement eligibility criteria were expanded just months earlier. An average of 17 people die every day waiting for a transplant; living donation is another way to help. NLDAC’s financial support is offered immediately, so there is no need for review of travel receipts and reimbursement.
NLDAC offers valuable resources to support and guide donors through the application process, many of which are a click away on their website: livingdonorassistance.org. Arbor Research supports NLDAC through the management of the center’s website, as well as data warehousing and analysis, and participation in the senior research team. Additionally, there are resources to assist policymakers, health care workers, social workers, and transplant centers
as they navigate living donation. Arbor Research, the University of Kansas, and the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, partner with the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) to operate NLDAC.