Arlington Heights firm honored

The American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation of Arlington Heights was presented with the Health Care Partner Award from the National Marrow Donor Program for its efforts to advance medical education related to bone marrow and umbilical cord blood transplantation.

The NMDP operates the Be The Match Registry, the world's largest and most diverse listing of potential bone marrow donors and donated cord blood.

For thousands of patients with life-threatening diseases, such as leukemia and lymphoma, a bone marrow or cord blood transplant from an unrelated donor is their best or only hope for survival.

“ASBMT exemplifies the role a truly committed professional society can serve in helping patients access lifesaving transplants,” said Jeffrey W. Chell, M.D., chief executive officer of the NMDP.

The ASBMT has worked closely with the NMDP to support issues regarding access, capacity reimbursement and awareness that are not typical of professional societies.

Through their long-standing, collaborative partnership, the ASBMT and NMDP have accomplished numerous joint strategic projects focused on coding and reimbursement for transplant, the development of clinical evidence-based reviews and guidelines, and seeking Medicare coverage for myelodysplastic syndrome.

Most recently, the ASBMT has been an active participant in and supporter of the NMDP's strategic initiative to assess the capacity of the U.S. health care system to accommodate increasing numbers of transplants and identify future growth challenges.