In 2006, Donate Life America launched the Donor Designation Collaborative, a nationwide initiative to increase the number of registered donors by 65 percent to a total of 100 million. However, there was no existing process to assess the status, measure the progress, and spur action by state donor registries and stakeholders. Creating a robust data sharing and reporting framework was essential to drive results.

Strategic Approach

Representatives of the 50 states and the District of Columbia were urged to “found, fix or fill” their government-authorized organ and tissue donor registries. A questionnaire populated a registry design database, allowing for easy comparison, defining qualitative measures, and strategically focus operational and legislative improvements. In addition, the development of key performance metrics and institution of a quarterly data reporting process enabled leaders of the initiative to identify top performers, motivate lower tiers to improve, and recognize achievement.

Results

With qualitative and quantitative data galvanizing national efforts and spurring quality improvement in every state, donor designations nationwide surpassed 100 million by 2011, with the national goal of 120 million achieved by 2014.