Three-year program at Northwell Health’s transplant center trains volunteer facilitators to help patients identify and support potential living donors

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – The Kidney Transplant Collaborative (KTC), Northwell Health, Staten Island PPS/SCN (SI PPS), and Kidneys for Communities (K4C) today announced the Living Donor Program Enhancement Demonstration Project (the “Program”), a three-year effort underway since January 2026 and designed to increase access to and completion of living donor kidney transplants for patients with kidney disease. The Program adds dedicated transplant coordinator staffing at Northwell Health’s transplant center to train volunteer facilitators drawn from the patient’s own life, including friends, family members, faith leaders and coworkers. Those volunteer facilitators help patients identify potential living donors and offer those donors encouragement and support through the pre-transplant process.

The Program responds to three key findings: deceased kidney donations are declining, as documented in KTC’s January 2026 Deceased Donor Report; a Mayo Clinic survey found that 84% of people would consider donating a kidney to a friend or family member, yet they are rarely asked in a way that breaks through; and most people who volunteer to donate do not complete the process from initial screening to surgery.

Decades of evidence from programs across the country support this approach. In a leading pilot at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, training and deploying volunteer facilitators increased living donor screenings ninefold and approved living donors sevenfold. At Johns Hopkins University, the share of recipients who identified a living donor rose from near zero to roughly half.

The Program aligns with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Increasing Organ Transplant Access (IOTA) Model, which seeks to improve access to life-saving transplants while advancing quality and equity in care. It will also generate the operational and outcomes data needed to support adoption at transplant centers nationwide, including centers participating in CMS’s IOTA Model.

Living donor kidney transplantation is widely recognized as the preferred treatment for many patients with end-stage kidney disease, offering improved health outcomes and quality of life compared to long-term dialysis. Through the Program, trained facilitators serve as a support network. They help patients share their story with the people around them and stay in touch with prospective donors, offering encouragement so no one goes through the process alone.

Transplant centers already employ coordinators who manage the clinical side of evaluation and transplant. The Program adds staff focused solely on preparing each patient’s own network to find and encourage a donor.

As part of the Program, the partners will:

• Train and coach volunteer facilitators at Northwell Health.
• Develop standardized education, training, and operational protocols.
• Measure patient engagement, donor referrals, completed donor evaluations, and living donor transplant outcomes.
• Produce a replicable implementation guide for other transplant centers.
• Share findings with healthcare providers, policymakers, and transplant organizations to help advance broader adoption of successful practices.

The Program’s core implementation period will run through June 2028.

By pairing the transplant center’s clinical expertise with trained volunteers from each patient’s own community, the partners aim to show that structured, non-clinical support can increase the number of successful living donor kidney transplants and reduce disparities in access to care.

“Published studies have documented that properly trained volunteer facilitators can dramatically increase the chances of a recipient in need of a kidney transplant identifying a willing living donor and also help that donor successfully complete their evaluation,” said Andrew D. Howard, MD, FACP, Chairman of the Kidney Transplant Collaborative. “This program gives patients a path to transplant now, without waiting years on the list for a deceased donor kidney.”

“Living donation is one of the most selfless gifts in medicine, offering patients the best chance at a longer, healthier life. Through our partnership with K4C, KTC & SI PPS, community-based facilitators will help patients share their story and identify potential living donors, so more people can get the transplant they need,” said Dr. Vinay Nair, Medical Director, Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation, Northwell Transplant Institute

“The generous donation from Kidneys for Communities makes it possible for SI PPS to support the implementation of a unique program that supports living donor kidney transplant.” Joseph Conte, PhD, CPHQ, Executive Director of SI PPS adds. “This program will introduce community-based facilitators trained to support donors and recipients while amplifying the message that living donation is an extraordinary act of generosity that has the power to save lives. SI PPS is honored to partner with KTC, K4C, & Northwell Health to support recipients through their transplant journey and inspire more individuals to become living donors.

”The hardest step for most patients isn’t surgery, it’s finding a living donor,” said Atul Agnihotri, CEO of Kidneys for Communities. “Working with KTC, Northwell Health and SI PPS, our community-directed donation program will help more patients find that donor and build a model transplant centers nationwide can follow.”

About Staten Island PPS

Staten Island Performing Provider System (SI PPS) is a non-profit public health organization founded in 2014 under the New York State Department of Health Medicaid 1115 waiver amendment known as the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) program. At the end of the program, SI PPS earned high-performance funding which has been invested back into network partners who have continued to expand upon population health improvement initiatives.

In 2024, New York State received an extension of their Medicaid 1115 waiver amendment to implement a new initiative called New York Health Equity Reform. Under this waiver, SI PPS became the lead entity in Richmond County to develop a Social Care Network to expand and enhance the capability of our network to provide health-related social needs screening for all Medicaid members, improve the coordination and delivery of social care services, and reduce health disparities. Due to its success and as the leading SCN in the state, the Staten Island SCN was chosen to expand into Brooklyn and Queens, reaching over 350,000 more Medicaid members.

About Kidneys for Communities (K4C)

Kidneys for Communities is a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives by increasing access to kidney transplants through living donation. The organization partners with communities, unions, employers, municipalities, and first responder organizations to educate, support, and connect donors and recipients, increasing the likelihood that a life-saving kidney can be directed to a fellow community member in need. Addressing the national shortage of living kidney donors through proactive outreach, Kidneys for Communities developed the first-ever national community-directed donation program, which unlocks connections within membership-based communities and expands the impact of paired kidney exchange. To learn more or find out how to help first responders in need of a kidney transplant, visit kidneysforcommunities.org.

About Northwell Health

Northwell Health is New York’s largest healthcare provider and private employer, joined by Nuvance Health, serving 3 million people annually across New York and Connecticut. With more than 104,000 employees, 14,500 providers and 28 hospitals, Northwell is one of the nation’s largest health systems. Northwell is a leader in clinical care, medical research at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, and healthcare education through the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. Northwell is committed to promoting wellness, healthier lifestyles, and closing gaps in healthcare equity. For more information, visit Northwell.edu and follow us on social media.

About the Kidney Transplant Collaborative

The Kidney Transplant Collaborative (KTC) is dedicated to increasing kidney transplants and removing financial and logistical barriers for kidney patients, donors, and their families. KTC is uniquely focused on increasing the number of living donor transplants in the United States through policy advocacy, education, and community organizing. For more information, visit kidneytransplantcollaborative.com.

Media Contact

Lauren Tepfer Eadicicco
LTepfer@statenislandpps.org
(917) 830-1149