The legislation was signed in October, but on a December morning in Buffalo, healthcare leaders gathered to celebrate as lawmakers delivered a pen used to transform the New York HEART Act into law.
The HEART Act (Helping Equal Access to Registrations for Transplants) repealed a 30-year-old state law that restricted patients in need of an organ transplant to registering on a single waiting list. Under the new legislation, patients may now sign up for waiting lists at multiple transplant centers throughout the state at the same time.
Supporters say the new law makes it possible for patients to potentially receive a needed transplant much sooner, perhaps making the difference between life and death.
“If a patient is listed at a transplant center that, let's say, their average waiting time is six years, they can also get listed at another transplant center that has an average waiting time of two years, and oftentimes that other transplant center is a subway ride away,” said Dr. Liise Kayler, director of ECMC’s Kidney Transplant Center.
The measure was introduced in the State Assembly by Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes and sponsored in the State Senate by April Baskin. Both were present to deliver a framed pen and certificate marking October’s signing.
“Everybody should have access to health care, and having access to getting your name on more than one list for organ donation is critical to health care,” said Peoples-Stokes.
Backers of the HEART Act say the law also ensures equity by preventing transplant centers from favoring patients based on a facility’s past performance or relationship with donor hospitals.