1. Region 8 Meeting Harvey Solomon, MD
Welcome to the spring Region 8 meeting. We know you took time out of your schedule to be here and your attendance is appreciated.

2. Purpose of Regional Meeting
Discuss regional business
Provide updates on OPTN/UNOS committee activities and projects
Discuss and comment on proposed policies and bylaws
The purpose of regional meetings is to:
discuss regional business
provide updates on committee activities and projects
discuss and comment on proposed policies and bylaws.
Regional feedback on committee proposals and updates will be provided to the sponsoring committees.

3. Regional Business Fall 2014 meeting date
Summary of fall 2013 regional meeting
Vote
Updated summary of spring 2013 regional meeting
Includes sponsoring committee’s response to regional comments
Board action on each proposal
Betsy will send out and later this month with potential meeting dates for the fall meeting. When people get the please let Betsy know if there are any regional or national meetings that conflict with any of the proposed dates.
The fall 2013 regional meeting summary is located in the booklet at your seat. This summary was also posted one week ago on Transplant Pro so you should have had an opportunity to look it over. Are any changes to the summary? Please vote to approve. **record vote**
An updated spring 2013 meeting summary is also located in your booklet. The summary includes the sponsoring committee’s responses to our region’s comments and the Board action taken on each proposal.

4. Regional Business Committee appointment status
Regional Nominating Committee recommendations
Final appointments
Notification
Next we will discuss the status of the OPTN/UNOS committee appointment process. Last fall you were asked to nominate members to serve as regional representatives to OPTN/UNOS Committees.
The regional nominating committee reviewed the nominations received and made recommendations based on an individual’s professional experience, willingness to serve, the needs of the committee for subject specific expertise, the candidate’s ability to represent the region nationally and the desire to have representation from all areas of the region.
Dr. Carl Berg, the incoming OPTN/UNOS President, is reviewing the regional representative recommendations and will make the final committee appointments. 
In May, notices will be sent to those individuals who are appointed and to individuals who were nominated but not appointed.

5. Update on OPTN/UNOS Activities
Presentation from OPTN/UNOS leadership
Committee reports presented by regional representatives
Regional feedback is provided to each committee
OPTN/UNOS leadership makes it a priority to attend each regional meeting and provide updates on OPTN and UNOS activities. Today, Dr. Kenneth Andreoni, OPTN/UNOS President is here to provide this update.
Regional representatives will present updates on OPTN committee activities. Regional feedback received today will be provided to the sponsoring committee by the regional representatives for consideration.

6. Regional Meeting Agenda
Regional Councillors and Administrators reviewed spring meeting agenda
17 public comment proposals
11 committee updates, some requiring regional discussion
Problem: large amount of material to cover during one meeting
Solution: Divide agenda into two sections, discussion and non-discussion
The Regional Councillors and Administrators met to review the agenda for the spring regional meetings. The committees have 17 public comment proposals and 11 committee updates for the regions to review and discuss. In order to cover the material, the regional meeting time would need to be extended by at least an hour and a half. A decision was made to extend the regional meeting by 30 minutes, and reduce the amount of material to be discussed by dividing the agenda into two sections, discussion and non-discussion.

7. Discussion Agenda
Discussion agenda format is the same as previous meetings
12 public comment proposals
Presentation
Discussion
Regional Vote
The discussion agenda follows the same format as previous regional meetings. The regional representatives will present proposals today and the region will have an opportunity to discuss them. Following discussion, a vote will be taken on each proposal.

8. Non-Discussion Agenda
Includes proposals anticipated to have a lower impact on the community
Region was offered an opportunity to request that a proposal(s) be placed on the discussion agenda
Proposals will be voted on today, but not presented or discussed
Proposals will be presented and discussed during a national webinar
The Regional Councillors and Administrators identified 5 proposals that are anticipated to have a lower impact on the transplant community as a whole. In previous correspondence, you were provided an opportunity to request that a proposal or proposals on the non-discussion agenda be added to the discussion agenda. We did not receive any requests to move any of the non-discussion proposals to the discussion agenda. Given this, the 5 proposals on the non-discussion agenda will be voted on today, but they will not be presented or discussed.
The non-discussion agenda will be presented and discussed during national webinars.

9. National Webinar
Two webinars to present and discuss 5 proposals on non-discussion agenda
March 18th
April 23rd, 1:00-2:30 pm ET
Information on Transplant Pro website:
Summaries of the 5 proposals will be presented by the sponsoring committee and members will be given an opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback. Regional Administration offered a webinar in March and will offer a second opportunity on April 23rd at 1pm ET. Webinar information is located on the Transplant Pro website at the link on this slide. If you have questions or need assistance accessing this information, please contact Betsy.

10. Non-Discussion Proposals: Vote
Proposal to Require the Collection of Serum Lipase for Pancreas Donors (Pancreas Transplantation Committee)
Proposal to Require the Reporting of Aborted Living Donor Organ Recovery Procedures (Living Donor Committee)
Proposal to Clarify Data Submission and Documentation Requirements (Membership and Professional Standards Committee (Membership and Professional Standards Committee)
Proposed ABO Subtyping Consistency Policy Modifications (Operations and Safety Committee)
Proposal to Allow Non-substantive Changes to the OPTN Policies and Bylaws (Policy Oversight Committee)
This slide includes a list of the 5 proposals that we need to vote on later today.

11. Public Comment Proposals
Public comment booklets on each table
All attendees may discuss and provide feedback
Each OPTN/UNOS member institution has one voting representative
Sponsoring committee considers regional feedback in development of final proposal
Board receives all public comment
Your feedback is important!
Public comment booklets containing the proposals we will discuss and vote upon today are located at each table.
All of you may participate in the discussion today and provide feedback. After each proposal is presented and discussed, a vote will be taken. Each OPTN/UNOS member institution receives one vote. OPTN/UNOS members include OPOs, transplant centers, histocompatibility laboratories, general public members, and professional organizations. A yellow card is provided to each voting member at the registration desk.
Regional feedback is important as it is considered by the sponsoring committee when developing final proposals, and public comment proposals are often modified and improved based upon regional feedback.
The Board also receives all public comment responses so that the directors have a sense of the transplant community’s sentiment about a given proposal.

12. Public Comment Opportunities
Contact Regional Representatives
meeting/
Submit public comment online
OPTN website: s/publicComment/
If you have individual feedback on any of the public comment proposals, you have a few ways to provide feedback.
Join the national webinar to discuss the proposals on the non-discussion agenda on April 23rd.
You can also contact the regional representatives. A list of our region’s representatives is located in the booklet at your seat and under meeting materials on the Transplant Pro website.
As always, you can submit an individual public comment online through the OPTN website. As a reminder, this tool is always available to members to provide individual and center specific feedback to the committee on all the proposals that are submitted for public comment.

13. Regional Meeting Materials – online!
The presentations shared today are located online:
Navigate to: and find the link to your region listed in the 2014 spring meeting schedule
Make sure to review the presentations that weren’t presented today
Additional information available on this website including:
Meeting agenda and summaries
Data
Links to various OPTN resources
All of the committee presentations and meeting materials are posted on the Transplant Pro website approximately one week prior to the meeting.
You should have received an last week with this link. The link also appears on this slide for your reference.

14. Questions?
Thank you for your attention and I am happy to answer any questions that you may have.