About The Program

The PATIENTS SAVE LIVES program is a collaborative effort between the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (Pitt Public Health), The Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) and Donate Life America. The project was funded by Health Resources and Services Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

University of Pittsburgh & Pitt Public Health

Founded in 1787, the University of Pittsburgh is among the nation’s oldest and most distinguished comprehensive universities, with a wide variety of high-quality programs in the arts and sciences as well as professional fields.

Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health is a top-ranked, internationally respected center of learning and research. With more than 636 students, 178 full-time faculty members and 516 staff members, Pitt Public Health is a forerunner in public health research, with departments and programs that address today’s most critical public health issues. The innovative minds of Pitt Public Health have united to solve global health challenges, to immerse themselves in the community, and to help prevent the spread of disease. The school’s close working relationships with local, state, national, and international agencies enhance the quality of its educational offerings and enrich the teaching and research programs of the School.  The school houses a number of centers that offer specialized research and educational opportunities, including the Department of Health Policy and Management, where the Patients Save Lives program was created.

CORE: The Center for Organ Recovery & Education

Organ donation and transplantation is a complicated process, requiring coordination with many different health care entities. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have established fifty-eight distinct Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) across the United States to manage this process. The Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) is the OPO for Western Pennsylvania, most of West Virginia and one county in New York.  Its region encompasses 155 hospitals and almost six million people.

CORE offers a wide range of organ, tissue, and eye procurement services including donor referral, family support during and after the donation process, coordination of the recovery process, and placement of donated organs. CORE also sponsors education and outreach programs to increase donor registration rates and general awareness about organ donation.

Donate Life America

Donate Life America is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit alliance of national organizations and state teams across the United States committed to increasing organ, eye and tissue donation.  Donate Life America manages and promotes the national brand for donation, Donate Life, and assists Donate Life State Teams and national partners in facilitating high-performing donor registries; developing and executing effective multi-media donor education programs; and motivating the American public to register now as organ, eye and tissue donors.

Health Resources and Services Administration

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable. Comprising six bureaus and ten offices, HRSA provides leadership and financial support to health care providers in every state and U.S. territory. HRSA grantees provide health care to uninsured people, people living with HIV/AIDS, and pregnant women, mothers and children. They train health professionals and improve systems of care in rural communities.HRSA oversees organ, bone marrow and cord blood donation. It compensates individuals harmed by vaccination, and maintains databases that protect against health care malpractice, waste, fraud and abuse. Since 1943 the agencies that were HRSA precursors have worked to improve the health of needy people. HRSA was created in 1982, when the Health Resources Administration and the Health Services Administration were merged.

COPYRIGHT AND AUTHORSHIP. All text, images, videos, music, sounds, website design, graphics, and software are Copyright 2018 University of Pittsburgh.

The author of this site is:
Howard Degenholtz, Ph. D.
Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management
Graduate School of Public Health
University of Pittsburgh