An Update on Our Proposed Kidney Transplant Program

Around this time last year, we prepared to submit our proposed kidney transplant program’s Certificate of Public Need (COPN) application. We filed the application in January 2024 and gathered external support through our public campaign, which began last summer.

• Sixteen cities, counties and towns in our service territory approved resolutions supporting the application.
• Over 20 community organizations that partner with us on care and numerous chambers of commerce sent letters of support.
• Over 1,500 people sent letters to the VDCOPN, which continues to review our application.

You may have seen the video screen banner, flyers, tent cards and posters in our hospitals and practices that have allowed employees, patients and visitors to learn why our work to start a kidney transplant program at CRMH is so important to our region:

• Helping kidney disease patients in our region receive care close to home that our communities need and deserve.
• Preventing those patients from traveling long distances for kidney disease services elsewhere in Virginia or even out of state.

The kidney transplant program has appointed a coordinator, and the multidisciplinary team guiding our application has continued to ensure we meet the state’s requirements as the application enters its final phase.

The next action begins on Tuesday, January 14, in Richmond, where our program’s experts will defend our COPN application before the VDCOPN, and individuals impacted by kidney transplants will be able to tell state officials why they support Carilion starting what would be Virginia’s eighth transplant center. VDCOPN will announce its decision later this year.

If you, your family members and your friends are willing to send a support letter to the VDCOPN, you can still do so here. It’s a very easy process.

For more information, contact Carlo Mendez, senior director of Planning, at cmendez@carilionclinic.org.