Why the Voucher Program is the Best Option for Living Kidney Donation

The National Kidney Registry’s Standard Voucher Program allows donors to donate a kidney on their own schedule while providing a “voucher” for someone who needs a kidney transplant. When the voucher holder is ready for a transplant, they can activate their voucher to be prioritized for a living donor transplant through the NKR.

The Voucher Program was created to overcome compatibility issues between donors and recipients, make the process more convenient for donors, and allow the best possible match for recipients. There are several reasons why donating through the Voucher Program is a better option than donating directly to your intended recipient.

The Voucher Program can overcome incompatibility issues. The Voucher Program enables transplant candidates with willing but incompatible donors to still receive a compatible kidney. Unlike traditional kidney transplantation, where the donor and the recipient had to be compatible to prevent rejection, the Voucher Program can achieve an excellent match for the recipient as long as the donor is healthy enough to donate.

The Voucher Program increases transplant opportunities. With the Voucher Program, potential living donors who are incompatible with their intended recipients can still donate on their behalf. Their kidney is matched to another recipient on the waitlist, helping others in need while ensuring a compatible living donor transplant for their intended recipient.

The Voucher Program reduces wait times. The Voucher Program can significantly reduce the amount of time a kidney patient must wait for a compatible kidney to become available. Due to the scarcity of organs, kidney patients can wait up to 10 years for a kidney from a deceased donor. With the Voucher Program, the typical wait time for a kidney patient to find a matching kidney from a living donor is 90 days.

The Voucher Program increases overall transplantation rates. The Voucher Program makes more donations possible, increasing the overall transplantation rate. This allows more individuals with end-stage kidney disease to receive a life-saving transplant and improves their quality of life and long-term outcome.

The Voucher Program can provide a better match. Even if a donor and recipient pair are compatible, the Voucher Program offers the opportunity to find an even better match based on age, kidney size or immunology. When recipients are matched with the best donor for them, they have the best chance of their transplant lasting as long as possible.

The Voucher Program minimizes immune system complications. When the donor and recipient are not well matched, the recipient’s immune system may recognize the transplanted organ as foreign and mount an immune response, leading to organ rejection. Paired exchange results in better matches and a lower chance of immune-related complications. Depending on the quality of the kidney donor match, the transplant recipient may even be able to reduce their dosage of immunosuppressive medications.

The Voucher Program provides additional donor protections. The NKR’s Donor Shield program provides comprehensive protections and assistance for living donors who donate through the Voucher Program, including reimbursement for lost wages and expenses for travel and dependent care, as well as prioritization for a living donor kidney in the extremely unlikely case they ever need a transplant in the future. For more information on Donor Shield, visit www.donorshield.com.

The Voucher Program allows donors to donate on their own schedule. A donor may have time restrictions that might not align with the needs of the transplant candidate. The Voucher Program allows a donor to have surgery when it is convenient for them, even if the intended recipient is not yet ready for a transplant. This is especially important when the voucher donor will be the caregiver for the transplant recipient, because they will have time to recover after their surgery.