The Future of Organ Procurement in the U.S. — Why ScubaTx Could Be the Catalyst for Change

Every nine minutes in the United States, another person is added to the transplant waiting list. Today, more than 100,000 people are hoping for the gift of life through organ donation. Yet, despite extraordinary medical advances, an average of 17 people die every day because an organ didn’t arrive in time.

Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) play a critical role in this ecosystem, coordinating the recovery and transportation of donated organs. But the system is at a breaking point. Policy reforms, new oversight mechanisms, and growing public scrutiny are forcing OPOs to transform—or risk losing their place in the nation’s transplant network.

This pivotal moment raises a powerful question: how can OPOs modernize fast enough to meet demand? And what role could innovators like ScubaTx play in accelerating that transformation?

A System Under Pressure

OPOs have saved countless lives, but they face mounting challenges:

• Transparency and Accountability: A 2020 federal audit revealed wide variation in OPO performance, with some recovering fewer than half the organs that others did. CMS has since introduced stricter benchmarks, threatening decertification for underperformers.

• The Supply-Demand Gap: While more than 10,000 organs are transplanted annually, thousands more viable organs go unused each year due to logistical failures, miscommunication, or transportation delays.

• Time Is the Enemy: Hearts and lungs must typically be transplanted within 4–6 hours of recovery. Even kidneys, which have a longer window, can lose viability with every passing hour. Every delay is a lost opportunity.

The consequences are profound. A 2022 analysis estimated that nearly 28,000 more organs could be transplanted annually if the system operated at peak efficiency.

Why ScubaTx Matters

Most donor organs in the U.S. are still transported the same way they were decades ago: on ice. Static cold storage is imprecise, risks freezing, and often shortens the usable life of an organ. Competitors like OrganOx and Paragonix have helped raise awareness of this problem, but ScubaTx goes further—delivering the precision, adaptability, and scalability that OPOs need next.

• Precision Preservation Beyond Ice
  Instead of relying on passive cooling, ScubaTx uses Advanced Temperature Control (ATC) to actively maintain preservation temperatures with remarkable accuracy (±0.5°C). This prevents accidental freezing and allows for tunable preservation conditions, extending viability well beyond the 6-hour limits of existing systems. In preclinical studies, ScubaTx has maintained 12+ hours of stable preservation in heart models—double the performance of some current commercial solutions.

• Oxygenation Through Persufflation (PSF)
  ScubaTx introduces persufflation, a breakthrough method of delivering oxygen directly through an organ’s vasculature. Think of it as “keeping the organ breathing” during transport. By preventing oxygen deprivation, persufflation extends safe transport times, improves post-transplant outcomes, and opens the door to using organs that would otherwise be discarded.

• Organ-Agnostic Platform
  Unlike competitors that offer organ-specific devices, ScubaTx has developed a modular, plug-and-play platform that works across multiple organs (heart, lung, pancreas, kidney, etc.). This simplifies training, streamlines logistics, and positions OPOs to scale quickly without adopting multiple systems.

• Smarter, Safer, Automated
  RFID-enabled consumables allow automatic protocol selection, real-time monitoring, and traceability. This reduces human error, enhances standardization, and integrates seamlessly with modern logistics systems—no specialist oversight required during transport.

• Built for Growth
  With a reusable base unit and consumables model, ScubaTx is not only cost-efficient but also scalable across regions. It enables OPOs to modernize workflows while staying ahead of CMS performance mandates and positioning themselves for long-term growth.

In short: ScubaTx isn’t just building a better box—it’s building the platform the field needs next.

A Catalyst for Growth in the Next Era of OPOs

For OPOs, the path forward is clear:

• Be Accountable: Demonstrate measurable impact with transparent, verifiable metrics.

• Be Efficient: Reduce waste, minimize lost opportunities, and increase the number of transplants performed.

• Be Collaborative: Foster stronger partnerships between hospitals, regulators, and donor families.

ScubaTx aligns with each of these imperatives. By enabling OPOs to modernize their operations, the company is not just improving transportation or data—it’s catalyzing a systemic shift that can result in more lives saved, more trust earned, and more growth realized.

Conclusion

The U.S. organ procurement system is at a turning point. With 17 people dying each day while waiting for a transplant, the cost of inefficiency is measured in lives lost.

ScubaTx represents the type of innovation that OPOs need to thrive in this new era: transparent, accountable, and relentlessly focused on outcomes. By reducing logistical failures and enabling smarter decision-making, ScubaTx can help ensure that more organs make it from donor to recipient—faster, safer, and more reliably.

The future of organ procurement depends on transformation. With ScubaTx as a catalyst, that future doesn’t just look brighter—it looks like thousands more lives saved each year.