Overview

• Federal officials said this would be the first mid‑cycle decertification of an organ procurement organization, with the Miami‑based Life Alliance serving about 7 million people across South Florida and the Bahamas.
• HHS and CMS cited unsafe practices, poor training, paperwork errors and a persistent 65% staffing shortfall that Kennedy said may have led to up to eight missed organ recoveries each week.
• Life Alliance said it will cooperate with a transition and will not appeal, though the organization retains the procedural right to challenge CMS decertification.
• The reform package includes an independent OPTN board, mandatory OPO patient safety officers, a public dashboard to flag out‑of‑sequence allocations and a strengthened channel for reporting misconduct.
• Officials pointed to an earlier federal review that found 351 halted procurements with 73 patients showing neurological signs incompatible with donation and 28 who may not have been deceased when preparation began, and they pledged tighter safeguards to prevent line‑skipping and wasted organs.