The legislation, which passed the House and Senate on voice votes recently, would break up the monopoly held by the Organ Transplant and Procurement Network. This network, which oversees the nation’s 56 organ procurement organizations, has long suffered from archaic computer systems and an unaccountable bureaucracy.

Individually and collectively, these new policies will revolutionize the organ donation industry — a sorely needed effort. An average of 16 patients die every day awaiting an organ transplant, in large part because the system fails to optimize its performance. Doctors discard organs viewed as less-than-perfect, choosing to keep patients waiting and often dying. In other cases, bureaucratic snafus mean the organs fail to get to their intended destination in time, meaning they must be discarded for safety reasons.

These reforms will save not only lives but taxpayers’ money. More efficiently allocating existing organs will allow for 28,000 more transplants every year, giving the gift of life to thousands of Americans. And because Medicare covers most patients with chronic kidney failure, successfully transplanting more kidneys will save an estimated $13 billion over five years that would otherwise be spent covering dialysis treatments for patients.