How One Father Created an Organ Empire
The New York Times • • health
Key Points:
- Garet Hil founded the National Kidney Registry (N.K.R.) in 2007 after facing the personal challenge of being unable to donate a kidney to his daughter, aiming to facilitate paired kidney donations nationwide.
- N.K.R. has facilitated nearly 12,000 paired kidney exchanges, significantly improving the efficiency of organ matching through a focus on technology.
- The organization has developed into a multimillion-dollar enterprise, charging hospitals high fees for access to its donor registry, with some costs ultimately borne by taxpayers via Medicare.
- Despite its nonprofit status for over a decade, N.K.R. paid at least $39 million to a company owned by Hil for services, and in 2023, its commercial operations were sold to a for
