Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey (Pa.) Medical Center has voluntarily paused its liver transplant program while it receives a performance review from the United Network for Organ Sharing representatives.
The hospital reactivated the program around a year ago, with Hershey-based Penn State Health sharing routine clinical performance data and additional information to UNOS to monitor the success of the program.
The decision to pause the program comes after clinical processes and documentation concerns were found, a spokesperson for Penn State Health said in a statement shared with Becker's.
Sixty-three patients on the program's wait list or undergoing waitlist evaluation have been notified of the program pause. The health system is working with other transplant centers to transition care for the patients affected.
"We will continue providing post-transplant care for patients who have already received a liver transplant at Penn State Health," the statement said. "Our health system will continue working with UNOS to ensure that our liver transplant program meets the patients' needs as effectively and safely as possible."
The pause comes after Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston also voluntarily stopped its liver and kidney transplant programs in early April amid allegations that a transplant surgeon altered transplant candidates' medical records.
Other Penn State Health transplant programs, like kidney, heart, bone marrow and stem cell, will not be affected by the liver transplant program pause.