Liver transplant program ranked best in the U.S. for third year in a row

Following an in-depth evaluation of 91 programs, INTERLINK has again recognized University Health Transplant Institute as having the best liver transplant program in the country. It’s the only transplant program in the United States to earn the organization’s top Chairman’s Award three years in a row.

“INTERLINK’S recognition of our program is significant because it looks at overall quality of patient outcomes among Centers of Excellence,” said Dr. Fred Poordad, chief of transplant hepatology for the Transplant Institute.

“It’s even more impressive because of how advanced liver disease is in our patients. South Texas has the highest rates of liver cancer in the U.S. We have the best survival rate in living donor transplantation with one of the three largest volumes of patients in the country,” Poordad said.

INTERLINK is one of the country’s largest managed care companies devoted to the evaluation of transplant excellence. Its findings are used by insurance companies to determine where transplant patients are likely to have the best recovery. In recognizing top-performing programs, it looked at 32 metrics, including patient outcomes, how long a patient waits for a transplant and how successful the program is in performing living donor liver transplants. Living donor organs often provide better outcomes and decrease the wait for a patient who desperately needs a transplant.

The Transplant Institute’s liver program scores well above the national average on many metrics. According to results released in January by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, liver transplant patients had an excellent survival rate of 97% one year after their transplants. Patients receiving their organ from a living donor had a one-year survival rate of 99%. With the help of its Champion for Life program, the Transplant Institute has increased the number of living donors for liver transplants every year for the past five years.

This leading transplant program combines advanced liver disease research with superior clinical care. It is a collaboration that includes University Health, academic partner UT Health San Antonio and the internationally recognized Texas Liver Institute.

“Your level of success is no accident,” said Dr. Richard Freeman, INTERLINK medical director. “As a transplant surgeon, I know how important it is for an entire team to work together to accomplish and replicate stellar results like yours in such a complex and highly scrutinized area of medicine.”