WASHINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Kentucky-based non-profit "Network for Hope" is under investigation again to determine if the organization has violated it's tax-exempt status.
The U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means report that the investigation is due to a "alarming" patient safety report.
In a letter to the non-profit, Committee Chairman Jason Smith and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman David Schweikert "(demanded) documents and records related to allegations of improper Medicare billing, financial conflicts of interest, and unsafe practices."
The announcement comes after the Health Resources and Services Administration's investigation into Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates, or KODA, one of two organ procurement organizations that merged with Network of Hope.
According to that investigation, 73 of 350 organ procurement cases handled by KODA between 2021 and 2024 included instances that should have prompted officials to stop the procedure sooner, due to patients' improving levels of consciousness.
The Committee on Ways and Means is alarmed by the Health Resources & Services Administration (“HRSA”) report which found that KODA officials pushed hospital workers toward organ recovery despite signs of revival in patients, and we want to examine the extent to which your organization is being reimbursed by Medicare for substandard and unsafe patient safety procedures during cases in which your organization may have operated outside of the standard of care or the law." the letter from Smith and Schweikert wrote.
A House Subcommittee of Energy and Commerce held a hearing in July 2025 on organ donation safety, some of those concerning Network for Hope. LEX 18 also shared with you the story of TJ Hoover and his sister, Donna.
Donna says an attempted was still made to procure TJ's organs even though he was showing signs of life.
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Barry Massa, CEO of Network for Hope, provided LEX 18 a statement regarding the investigation:
Network for Hope will be cooperating with the recent request from the U.S. House of Representatives. We take these matters very seriously. Network for Hope remains committed to transparency and ongoing improvement efforts as we fulfill the sacred responsibility of honoring an individual’s decision to become an organ donor.
