{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/36321"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/36321","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Is the Probability of Survival for A Liver Transplant Dependent on the Patient's Choice of Hospital?","abstract":"People who need a liver transplant must choose a hospital at which the transplant will be performed. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) allocates organs to patients based on patient characteristics and assumes all hospitals have equal skill. The question for a patient thus becomes, which hospital to choose? This thesis investigates whether the differences in liver transplant survival rates for hospitals are a result of differences in patients and/or differences in hospital-specific criteria. The findings in this thesis show that most of the differences in hospital survival rates are due to patient characteristics, and that, while not conclusive, hospital characteristics may have an impact on survival rates. However, the variable that is most significant to survival rates is the cold ischemic time, or transportation time of the organ. These results suggest that policies to allocate organs nationally are not optimal.","abstract_html":"People who need a liver transplant must choose a hospital at which the transplant will be performed. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) allocates organs to patients based on patient characteristics and assumes all hospitals have equal skill. The question for a patient thus becomes, which hospital to choose? This thesis investigates whether the differences in liver transplant survival rates for hospitals are a result of differences in patients and/or differences in hospital-specific criteria. The findings in this thesis show that most of the differences in hospital survival rates are due to patient characteristics, and that, while not conclusive, hospital characteristics may have an impact on survival rates. However, the variable that is most significant to survival rates is the cold ischemic time, or transportation time of the organ. These results suggest that policies to allocate organs nationally are not optimal.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Hebert, Amy Ruth Tempel"],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Master of Arts","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Economics","degree_department":"Economics","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Waud, Roger N."],"committee_members":["Lang, William W.","Lutton, Thomas J."],"year":2000,"date_issued":"2000-12-14","date_published":"2000-12-14","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:42Z","subjects":["patient choice","liver transplant","organ transplant","survival rate"],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-12202000-141441"],"render_values":[{"text":"etd-12202000-141441","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10919/36321","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Waud, Roger N."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Lang, William W.","Lutton, Thomas J."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Economics"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Hebert, Amy Ruth Tempel"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2014-03-14T20:50:28Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-03-14T20:50:28Z","2002-03-07"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2000-12-14"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Economics"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["patient choice","liver transplant","organ transplant","survival rate"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-12202000-141441"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/36321"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["People who need a liver transplant must choose a hospital at which the transplant will be performed. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) allocates organs to patients based on patient characteristics and assumes all hospitals have equal skill. The question for a patient thus becomes, which hospital to choose? This thesis investigates whether the differences in liver transplant survival rates for hospitals are a result of differences in patients and/or differences in hospital-specific criteria. The findings in this thesis show that most of the differences in hospital survival rates are due to patient characteristics, and that, while not conclusive, hospital characteristics may have an impact on survival rates. However, the variable that is most significant to survival rates is the cold ischemic time, or transportation time of the organ. These results suggest that policies to allocate organs nationally are not optimal."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Arts"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Is the Probability of Survival for A Liver Transplant Dependent on the Patient's Choice of Hospital?"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Waud, Roger N."],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Lang, William W.","Lutton, Thomas J."],"dc:contributor.department":["Economics"],"dc:creator":["Hebert, Amy Ruth Tempel"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2014-03-14T20:50:28Z"],"dc:date.available":["2014-03-14T20:50:28Z","2002-03-07"],"dc:date.issued":["2000-12-14"],"dc:description.abstract":["People who need a liver transplant must choose a hospital at which the transplant will be performed. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) allocates organs to patients based on patient characteristics and assumes all hospitals have equal skill. The question for a patient thus becomes, which hospital to choose? This thesis investigates whether the differences in liver transplant survival rates for hospitals are a result of differences in patients and/or differences in hospital-specific criteria. The findings in this thesis show that most of the differences in hospital survival rates are due to patient characteristics, and that, while not conclusive, hospital characteristics may have an impact on survival rates. However, the variable that is most significant to survival rates is the cold ischemic time, or transportation time of the organ. These results suggest that policies to allocate organs nationally are not optimal."],"dc:description.degree":["Master of Arts"],"dc:identifier.other":["etd-12202000-141441"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/36321"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["patient choice","liver transplant","organ transplant","survival rate"],"dc:title":["Is the Probability of Survival for A Liver Transplant Dependent on the Patient's Choice of Hospital?"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Economics"],"thesis:degree_level":["masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:42Z"}