Other longtime transplant giants include Cleveland Clinic, which reported 1,424 transplants across three locations in 2025, including its Weston hospital in Broward County; the UCSF Health program in California; and UPMC Transplant Center in Pittsburgh, both of which have surpassed 20,000 transplants.<\/p>\n
In Florida, Miami Transplant Institute \u2014 a partnership between Jackson Memorial Hospital and UM Health \u2014 approached 15,000 transplants after performing 504 procedures in 2025. UF Health Shands in Gainesville has reported more than 10,000 transplants since launching its program in 1994.<\/p>\n
Like many other high-volume centers, Tampa General credits part of its growth to expanded use of organ-perfusion technology that keeps donor organs viable longer and allows surgeons to accept organs from farther away.<\/p>\n
Traditionally, donor organs were transported in coolers with preservation solution. Perfusion systems use sophisticated pumps to keep blood flowing through organs outside the body before transplantation.<\/p>\n
Also known as ex vivo perfusion, the technology allows lungs to exchange oxygen, hearts to continue beating and livers to continue functioning during transport.<\/p>\n
ALSO READ: Lost in transmission: Changes in organ donor status can fall through cracks in the system<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cPerfusion has the potential not only to increase donor availability but also to have recipients in better condition,\u201d said Dr. Si Pham, chair of cardiothoracic surgery at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n In a news release, Phan said ex vivo perfusion requires surgical skill as well as additional personnel support that may \u201churt a medical center’s bottom line,” but if it shortens patients’ transplant wait times and reduces pretransplant hospital length of stay, that will make the cost go down.”<\/p>\n TGH said it was the first hospital in Florida to use the technology for heart, lung and liver transplantation, and in 2025 used it in nearly three-fourths of its procedures. Procurement teams traveled more than 100,000 miles retrieving donor organs from across the country.<\/p>\n Demand for transplants skyrockets<\/p>\n Florida has emerged as one of the nation\u2019s busier transplant states in recent years, recording more than 3,200 in 2024 \u2014 second only to California. Tampa General said it accounted for nearly a third of those procedures.<\/p>\n Other major transplant centers in the state include UF Health Shands, Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami and Mayo Clinic Jacksonville. There are about 10 total. <\/p>\n According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than 48,000 transplants took place in 2024, but more than 100,000 people are on a waiting list \u2014 and an average of 13 of them die each day. Most procedures involve a kidney.<\/p>\n Florida\u2019s waiting list includes more than 5,000, UM Health\u2019s Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency reports.<\/p>\n That high demand is luring more health systems into the transplant market. That includes BayCare, which announced in March it plans to begin a program next year at St. Joseph\u2019s Hospital in Tampa.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery year, dozens of our neighbors leave our region to receive the transplant services they need to live fuller, healthier lives,\u201d BayCare president and CEO Stephanie Conners said in a statement. \u201cOur neighbors deserve better and BayCare is committed to providing the highly specialized services they need so they can receive care close to home.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"chart](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778264052_226_.png\"\/)
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