Discontinuation of race-based kidney test helps Black patients on transplant list

An effort to rectify the effects of a racially biased medical test that prevented or delayed Black people from receiving kidney transplants appears to be working, researchers said in an JAMA Internal Medicine study. Thousands of Black transplant candidates have moved up on the waiting list for time they lost due to the flawed test. The test, which incorporated a race-based formula to determine patients’ kidney function, made Black patients’ kidneys appear healthier than they were, delaying their diagnosis of impending organ failure and referral to the transplant list. The U.S. transplant system asked hospitals after the test was stopped to comb their medical records for Black patients who could have qualified for a kidney sooner and credit them for that time by moving them up on the list. (AP article, 3/9/26)