UC Davis Health launched an initiative to make the organ transplant system in California more equitable last week.
The initiative, Pluralist, aims to improve organ donation awareness and outcomes among underserved populations around California. It will leverage data and artificial intelligence to learn about the needs of a given community and tailor interventions to be designed by a community patient center, which will then be shared through social networks and digital media.
The program is designed to be scalable so that it can be adopted by other providers around the country. It is expected to reach more than 22 million California residents over a two-year period, with at least 70% from marginalized communities.
“Many of our historically underserved communities are less likely to be placed on transplant waitlists and have had a lower likelihood of transplantation,” David Lubarsky, M.D., CEO of UC Davis Health, said in a press release. “This initiative will help identify potential system-wide improvements that would increase organ donations and advance equity in organ donation and transplantation.”
“Addressing this problem requires a multidisciplinary approach,” Martin Cadeiras, medical director heart transplant program at UC Davis Health and principal investigator of the Pluralist Program, said in the release. “We plan to leverage technology and social power to create a movement for better health that will reduce health disparities in organ transplantation throughout California.”
The initial pilot is funded by CareDX as part of its investment in health equity improvements. Pluralist is also supported by Donate Life California and the National Kidney Foundation.
“We’re done with knowing there is disparities,” Jose Morfin, M.D., a nephrologist at the UC Davis School of Medicine, said in a streamed event announcing the launch. “We know there are disparities. I think we want to sort of start having interventions, to start mitigating these disparities.”