Protect Fair Lung Transplant Allocation

An unexpected and critical policy change has just impacted the entire lung transplant community, and we need your voice to help reverse it.

Recently, the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) Board of Directors voted to alter the Lung Transplant Continuous Allocation Score (CAS). Without a prospective public comment period, and going directly against the unanimous opposition of the medical experts on the Lung Committee, the Board voted to remove points from categories such as height, level of antibodies and blood type and reallocated them to “travel efficiency” now called “Placement Efficiency“.

Why this matters:

CAS Scores aren’t just numbers on a page—they represent human lives. By stripping points away from recipient specific medical characteristics, this emergency shift directly compromises equity and access for the highest-risk candidates on the waitlist. Furthermore, moving away from extensive, data-driven clinical modeling puts hard-won progress in reducing waitlist mortality at risk.

Specialized medical expertise and patient voices must remain at the center of transplant policy.

The OPTN Board will review public feedback before voting again to determine if this change becomes permanent. The official comment window is open right now, and the deadline to submit your message is Friday, July 3, 2026.

To make taking action as seamless as possible, the Lung Transplant Foundation has set up a dedicated landing page.

On our advocacy page, you will find:

• A video explaining exactly what is at stake and walking you through the submission process.
• A pre-written template letter endorsed by 17 patient advocacy organizations that you can quickly personalize with your own story.
• An easy to use tool that allows you to copy your finished message and paste it directly onto the government portal in less than 60 seconds.

Whether you are a lung transplant candidate, recipient, caregiver, living donor, or healthcare professional, our community needs your perspective right now.

Please don’t wait. Head to lungtransplantfoundation.org/act today, watch a video overview of the policy change, view a sample letter and see steps for how to submit your comment before the July 3rd deadline.

With gratitude and solidarity,
The Lung Transplant Foundation Team

P.S. Once you have successfully submitted your public comment, please use the social media graphic and pre-written captions found near the bottom of lungtransplantfoundation.org/act to encourage your family, friends and community to do the same. Every voice counts!