Today, the National Kidney Registry (NKR) announced the expansion of its Donor Shield program for living kidney and liver donors to include reimbursement for dependent care costs (for children or adult dependents of the donor) and free home blood draws for living donors. These enhancements will go into effect over the next 60 days.
The Donor Shield maximum reimbursement is $17,000 per donor: up to $12,000 for lost wage reimbursement and up to $5,000 for travel and lodging reimbursement. Dependent care will fall under the travel and lodging portion of Donor Shield and will be subject to the $5,000 cap. The maximum Donor Shield reimbursement is nearly three times higher than the government-sponsored program, which limits the maximum donor reimbursement to $6,000.
“We are thrilled to add dependent care and home blood draws to the comprehensive protections and support already offered by Donor Shield,” said Michael Lollo, the National Kidney Registry’s Chief Strategy Officer and a living kidney donor. “With the addition of dependent care and the home blood draw service, Donor Shield has eliminated, to the maximum extent possible, all disincentives to living donation.”
“We utilize Donor Shield for all the living kidney donors, direct and kidney paired donation, at our center,” said Dr. Kandaswamy, Director of Kidney Transplant at the University of Minnesota, one of the largest users of Donor Shield. “Not only is it the right thing to do for donors that give the gift of life, but it also increases the number of potential donors because it eliminates barriers that would historically prevent someone from donating a kidney.”
About Donor Shield
Donor Shield (www.donor-shield.org) is the most comprehensive program in the world supporting and protecting living kidney donors. Donor Shield is backed by the National Kidney Registry, which is the largest paired exchange program in the world. All donors that participate in a National Kidney Registry swap, Kidney for Life direct donation or donate at a Donor Shield Direct Center are automatically enrolled in the Donor Shield program.
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