Gift of Life Michigan

Information was provided to TransWeb by the Transplantation Society of Michigan 3/98. Revised 12/2000, 8/2003.

2203 Platt Rd., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

phone: (734) 973-1577, toll-free: 1-800-482-4881

fax: (734) 973-3133

info@giftoflifemichigan.org www.giftoflifemichigan.org

UNOS Region 10

Contact person for public education:	Tammie Harvermahl
Geographical areas covered:	State of Michigan
Population served:	9.2 million
Transplant centers in the service area:	Beaumont Hospital, Children's Hospital, Harper Hospital, Henry Ford Hospital, Hurley Hospital, St. John (Detroit), St. Mary (Grand Rapids), University of Michigan Medical Center

The organization and its mission:

Gift of Life, the Michigan organ and tissue donation program, is a nonprofit (501c(3)), independent corporation certified by Medicare and designated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as an organ recovery organization for Michigan. It was incorporated in 1971 by transplant surgeons in Michigan in order to have a central coordination network for the sharing of kidneys. As transplant surgery was developed for other organs, Gift of Life also became responsible to recover those organs as well. Gift of Life maintains an affiliate relationship with Gift of Life Foundation. The latter is a nonprofit membership corporation of health care professionals and interested parties which functions as a supporting philanthropic and educational foundation to Gift of Life.

A Board of Directors governs Gift of Life, making all policies and reviewing all activity of the organization at its regular meetings. There are 13 committees that address issues of histocompatibility, organ donation, multiple organ retrieval, preservation, etc. All transplant centers are represented in this structure, resulting in a patient-oriented program. Gift of Life also has a multidisciplinary Advisory Board consisting of 45 health care and lay members. The day-to-day operations of Gift of Life are managed by an Executive Director.

Gift of Life charges a service fee to the receiving transplant center for each organ recovered. This fee is then added to the recipient patient's hospital bill. In addition, Gift of Life reports its costs of operations to the Medicare Program. Fees received from hospitals for kidneys are compared to this cost report, and an annual settlement is conducted between Gift of Life and the Medicare Program to ensure that Gift of Life is paid its full cost for recovery of kidneys, but not more than its actual cost of such recoveries.

Gift of Life is a full service organ recovery organization that acts as the intermediary between donors, physicians and hospital staff, and provides all services necessary for organ and tissue donation and transplantation. This includes education, retrieval, preservation, and organ placement, as well as tissue typing services, and both a recipient and donor registry for the transplant centers within the state of Michigan.

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Last modified: 6 August, 2003