Operations Coordinator, Organ Center

Position Description:

The Organ Center Operations Coordinator supports time-sensitive transplant operations that affect patient safety, transplant candidate prioritization, and the integrity of organ allocation processes. This role applies established knowledge of OPTN policies, review board guidelines, transplant operations, and internal procedures to process work accurately, ensure completeness of information, and support operational objectives. The position works within established processes and guidelines, collaborates with internal and external stakeholders, and escalates complex, unclear, or ambiguous situations to senior staff or leadership to support timely and accurate resolution.

Key Responsibilities

Review Board Case Processing

• Monitor, prioritize, process, and submit review board cases involving urgent status assignments, status exceptions, and other candidate-specific requests for heart, lung, and liver transplant candidates in accordance with established procedures, documentation requirements, and applicable timelines.
• Review submitted materials to ensure required information, supporting documentation, signatures, and related case elements are complete before submission for review board consideration. Identify missing, conflicting, or unclear information and take timely action to obtain clarification or escalate when the request falls outside established procedures.
• Apply established OPTN policies, review board guidelines, and departmental procedures to support accurate and consistent case processing. Escalate complex, ambiguous, or unusual situations to senior staff or leadership when additional review, guidance, or decision support is needed.
• Coordinate communications associated with the review board process, including requests for additional information, correspondence regarding review board decisions, and communications related to appeals and deadlines, ensuring messages are accurate, timely, and aligned with established templates and procedures.
• Coordinate appeals activities by ensuring requests, deadlines, voting requirements, and supporting documentation are complete and submitted in accordance with established procedures. Escalate questions, exceptions, or unclear circumstances requiring additional review.
• Ensure case documentation remains accurate, well-organized, and audit-ready by properly capturing, filing, and retaining records, supporting materials, and communications in accordance with departmental and regulatory requirements.
• May require periodic weekend support to ensure continuity of time-sensitive review board case processing and timely handling of high-impact requests.

Transplant Candidate Data Maintenance

• Serve as a point of contact for transplant centers and internal stakeholders regarding waiting time requests and candidate data maintenance activities that may affect transplant candidate records and allocation priority.
• Review waiting time transfer requests, reinstatements, modifications, prior living donor priority requests, liver candidate lab data change requests, and other candidate record updates to ensure completeness, required approvals, supporting documentation, and compliance with established policy requirements prior to processing.
• Identify discrepancies, incomplete information, or situations that fall outside established procedures and coordinate with appropriate stakeholders or escalate to senior staff or leadership for review and resolution.
• Execute approved candidate data changes accurately and within required timelines, recognizing that errors, omissions, or delays may affect candidate records, waiting time, and organ allocation priority.
• Coordinate with transplant programs, management, and technical teams to resolve routine discrepancies and support accurate, complete, and properly documented candidate data changes.
• Ensure all modifications are verified in accordance with team quality standards and that supporting documentation is complete, organized, and maintained for audit, compliance, and operational reference purposes.
• Maintain working knowledge of OPTN policies governing wait time, wait time adjustments, liver candidate lab data changes, and candidate status changes, and apply established requirements to support accurate and consistent processing.

Kidney Paired Donation Coordination

• Coordinate operational aspects of Kidney Paired Donation activities involving participating transplant hospitals, including communications related to match activity, crossmatch results, pending match updates, surgery scheduling, transportation logistics, and documentation requirements.
• Support exchange activities by following established procedures and maintaining timely communication across participating centers and internal stakeholders to support operational continuity throughout the exchange process.
• Perform core KPD operational functions, including enrolling transplant hospitals, executing match runs, repairing matches when appropriate, processing participation updates, maintaining program configuration elements, and preparing communications and forms necessary to support exchange activity.
• Identify operational concerns, incomplete information, scheduling conflicts, system questions, or participant questions and resolve routine matters within established procedures while escalating more complex situations to senior staff or leadership as appropriate.
• Provide support to members and staff regarding KPD system functionality, data entry requirements, and process navigation while ensuring accurate documentation and timely follow-up.

Performance Improvement / Special Projects / Records Management

• Identify workflow issues, recurring errors, or communication gaps and communicate observations to senior staff or leadership for review and consideration.
• Assist in updating and maintaining work instructions, procedural documentation, and related resources to support consistent operations and staff training.
• Process records requests in accordance with designated record sets and established privacy standards, ensuring accurate identification, review, and redaction of Protected Health Information (PHI) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and maintaining appropriate documentation of released materials.
• Support filing, storage, retention, and destruction activities for Organ Center records in accordance with applicable internal requirements, privacy standards, and document management expectations.
• Participate in assigned special projects and cross-functional efforts by completing assigned tasks, supporting documentation needs, assisting with testing or workflow updates, and escalating barriers or concerns as needed.
• Assist leadership in collecting, organizing, and preparing data and supporting materials in response to requests from HRSA and other OPTN-affiliated contractors, while coordinating with internal teams and external partners on shared areas of work as directed.

Minimum Requirements

• 2 years of organ transplantation, information technology, customer service, or health care experience required

Critical Skills

• Ability to follow established policies, procedures, and departmental processes accurately and consistently.
• Ability to review information for completeness, identify discrepancies or missing documentation, and take appropriate follow-up action.
• Ability to identify situations that are complex, unclear, or outside established procedures and escalate appropriately.
• Ability to manage multiple time-sensitive tasks while maintaining accuracy, organization, and attention to detail.
• Effective oral and written communication skills, including the ability to exchange job-specific information clearly with internal and external stakeholders.
• Strong organizational, documentation, and follow-through skills to support compliance, audit readiness, and quality standards.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word and Excel and the ability to use business systems and operational tools effectively.

Additional Skills & Qualifications

• General knowledge of OPTN policies preferred.
• Experience in the field of organ procurement/transplantation, or UNOS experience preferred.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite preferred
• Experience with quality improvement principles.

Education

• High School diploma or equivalent required
• 4-year degree with a preferred concentration in science, information technology, or health care strongly preferred.

Physical Requirements

• General office demands
• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Frequent reaching, handling, and fine manipulation for using office equipment, filing, and managing paperwork.
• Manual dexterity sufficient to operate a keyboard, mouse, and other office tools.
• Occasional standing, walking, and bending.
• Ability to lift 10-20 pounds occasionally.
• Vision abilities required include close vision for computer work and reading documents.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.