CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (March 13, 2025) – HonorBridge, North Carolina’s organ donation and tissue recovery organization (OPO), is pursuing legal action against the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for transferring organ recovery and transport responsibilities at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital from HonorBridge to LifeShare Carolinas, another OPO. The recent CMS decision, which HonorBridge calls “unlawful, arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion,” will end an exceptional and longstanding partnership between Wake Forest Baptist and HonorBridge without cause, unnecessarily disrupting recovery and transplant in the Winston-Salem region and placing patient lives at risk.
HonorBridge was forced to take immediate action after it was notified in February that Wake Forest Baptist would initiate a rapid transition to LifeShare, a move that HonorBridge believes represents a capitulation to provider behemoth Atrium Health. Wake Forest Baptist Hospital requested the waiver from CMS in 2022 – two years after being acquired by Atrium, which is part of the third largest nonprofit health system in the country. In December 2024, CMS granted Wake Forest Baptist’s request to begin working with LifeShare Carolinas, which is also owned by Atrium.
“HonorBridge believes CMS has overstepped its authority in the best interests of Atrium rather than of patients,” said Danielle Bumarch, RN, JD, President and CEO of HonorBridge. “The decision could have life-threatening impacts on organ donation in Winston-Salem and our community. It is our obligation to speak up for both transplant patients and organ donors when the government makes ill-considered decisions that could harm them.”
In filing suit to challenge the decision, HonorBridge seeks to safeguard the integrity of the region’s donation system by protecting its highly productive relationship with Wake Forest Baptist, where more than 2,500 organs have been recovered by HonorBridge over multiple decades. Since 1988, HonorBridge has recovered 21,000 organs from 5,880 donors compared to LifeShare’s 10,553 organs from 2,961 donors. In Winston-Salem, N.C., and across 77 counties in North Carolina, HonorBridge’s team saves lives by caring for organ donors, walking beside their families in their grief, facilitating organ recovery, and ensuring organs reach transplant recipients.
Specifically, HonorBridge’s complaint, filed with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, asserts the following:
- CMS exceeded its statutory authority by failing to require specific data supporting the claim LifeShare Carolinas would increase donation at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital.
- CMS did not adhere to regulatory guidelines for evaluating the waiver request, exercising “unfettered discretion” in its evaluation when it considered evidence not permitted by the statue or regulation.
- CMS violated the Administrative Procedures Act due to the lack of solid foundation in the law and relevant evidence, rendering their decision illegally arbitrary and capricious.
HonorBridge also requested a preliminary injunction seeking to immediately halt the transition to LifeShare Carolinas until the legal process is complete.
HonorBridge has also learned that Davie Medical Center, located in Bermuda Run and also owned by Atrium, intends to sever its relationship with HonorBridge and begin working with LifeShare Carolinas, even though Davie Medical Center has not received required approval from CMS to switch OPOs.
HonorBridge has written to Davie Medical to share its concerns about the confusion that could erupt should LifeShare Carolinas begin to serve the center illegally, as well as to express its intention to continue honoring its contract to serve Davie Medical Center.
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About HonorBridge
HonorBridge is the federally designated, not-for-profit organ donation and tissue recovery organization serving 7.5 million people in 77 counties in North Carolina, along with Pittsylvania County in Virginia. With offices in Chapel Hill, Greenville, and Winston-Salem, HonorBridge is devoted to building connections that save and heal lives through organ and tissue donation. In North Carolina, almost 3,000 people are currently waiting for organ transplants and nationally, over 100,000 people are on the organ waiting list. For more information, visit HonorBridge.org or call 1-800-200-2672.
