GREENWICH, Conn., July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The National Kidney Registry (NKR) announced today that it is fully prepared to support the new Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) emergency policy requiring all kidney transplant centers to shorten the serology testing window to 7 days for HIV and seasonal West Nile Virus testing.
“NKR places the highest priority on patient safety and the speed of patients receiving their needed kidney, and we’ve been coordinating thousands of expedited serology tests across 100+ hospitals for years,” said National Kidney Registry CEO Garet Hil. “Not only are we ready for these new OPTN requirements, but we are also extending the tighter OPTN timelines to all 23 serology tests as well as the final crossmatch testing.”
The NKR’s current turnaround time for serology testing is approximately two days, enabling transplant centers to meet the tighter testing window without putting scheduled surgeries at risk. To ensure a seamless transition for Member Centers, the NKR will begin operating under the new seven-day process on August 10, 2026 – one week before the OPTN policy becomes effective on August 17, 2026.
The NKR has already started receiving requests from Member Centers to utilize the NKR’s serology testing services for non-NKR direct donation transplants, which NKR has been providing for years. The ability to provide fast turnaround serology testing for NKR facilitated transplants and non-NKR transplants provides a single platform solution for these critical tests.
Centers seeking assistance with meeting the new seven-day testing timeline are encouraged to contact the NKR for additional information.
About the National Kidney Registry
The National Kidney Registry (www.kidneyregistry.com) is an organization whose mission is to save and improve the lives of people facing kidney failure by increasing the quality, speed, and number of living donor transplants while protecting all living donors.
Approximately thirty percent (30%) of all living donor kidney transplants performed annually in the United States are facilitated through the National Kidney Registry.
SOURCE National Kidney Registry