Working Papers
Despite a shortage of kidneys available for transplantation, the median candidate who dies while on the waitlist for a transplant declines 16 organ offers. Physicians decline or accept offers on behalf of their patients on the basis of kidney quality, which is difficult to evaluate. Starting in 2012, the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network provided a simplified single-score metric, the Kidney Donor Profile Index (KDPI), to estimate the quality of a donor kidney relative to the median kidney recovered. Using a rich dataset provided by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients containing all 28 million kidney transplant offers and decisions over a 5-year period, I exploit the provision of KDPI to evaluate the salience of this metric in physician decision-making. I utilize the natural experiment resulting from the exact timing when the values were calculable but not provided prominently with each offer. The introduction of the metric increased the weight placed upon KDPI in terms of individual offer acceptance, demonstrating that KDPI became increasingly salient to physicians. However, there was no corresponding increase in discard rates for low-quality organs as opposed to high-quality organs following the introduction of KDPI. I also find evidence of substantial preference shifts among physicians with regards to the individual donor characteristics.
The Effect of Racial Adjustments in KDPI on Donor Kidney Utilization
Dead Wait Loss: The Effects of Race Adjustments for Kidney Candidates on Transplant Outcomes
Published Research
"Oversampling of Minority Populations in Dual-Frame Telephone Surveys." Chen, S., Stubblefield, A., and Stoner, J. Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology, 2020.
"Expert opinion regarding appropriately timing dermatological surgeries in patients with recent myocardial infarctions." Imtiaz, R., Jasterzbski, T., McLawhorn, J., Stubblefield, A., Chen, S., Stasko, T., and Collins, L. Dermatologic Surgery, 2020.
"A note on doubly robust predictive mean matching imputation with complex survey data." Chen, S., Haziza, D., and Stubblefield, A. Survey Methodology, 2021.
"Communication strategies in Mohs micrographic surgery: A survey of methods, time savings, and perceived patient satisfaction." Yousefi, N., McLawhorn, J.M., Quinn, A., Stubblefield, A., Chen, S., Stasko, T., Collins, L. Cutis, 2021.
"Use of infusion ports in patients with Sickle Cell Disease: Indications and complications." Ilonze, C., Stubblefield, A., Anderson, M., Journeycake, J., and Sinha, A. Pediatric Blood and Cancer, 2022.
"Chronic Disease, Functional Limitations, and Workforce Participation Among Medicaid Enrollees Over 50: The Potential Impact of Medicaid Work Requirements Post-COVID19." Sneed, R., Stubblefield, A., Gardner, G., Jordan, T., and Mezuk, B. Journal of Aging and Social Policy, 2024.Â