Press releases

Released December 1, 1998
Yale-New Haven Hospital news release

Medicare Approves Yale-New Haven Liver Transplant Program

For more information, call 203-688-2488 or E-mail Ken Best.

The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) of the Department of Health & Human Services has approved Yale-New Haven Hospital as the only hospital in Connecticut for complete Medicare reimbursements for liver transplants.

The HCFA action expands the patient base of Connecticut residents in need of liver transplants who may be under Medicare coverage, which includes those patients under retirement age who are on Social Security disability and unable to work.

“This is a significant benefit for state residents who are in need of liver transplants because it means they now can be treated in Connecticut,” said Dr. Marc Lorber, director of the organ transplant program at Yale-New Haven Hospital. “In granting its approval, HCFA noted that Yale-New Haven met or exceeded all of its criteria based on the reports of experts who reviewed our liver transplant program.”

Yale-New Haven has performed 121 liver transplants since 1983, but has nearly doubled its number of transplants since 1994. A total of 60 liver transplants have been performed since then, including 16 transplants to date in 1998.

The survival rate one year after liver transplant is 86 percent for Yale-New Haven patients, compared with 83 percent nationally.

There are 123 liver transplant programs in the United States, with 11,209 people now registered on the waiting list as of September, including 892 in the New England region, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). In 1997 there were 4,167 liver transplants performed.

Overall, 60,000 patients are waiting for organ transplantation throughout the nation.

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