Chris Thome

Experience

• 

  Washington Regional Transplant Community (WRTC)

  Jul 2012 - Jul 2017

  As a Clinical Recovery Coordinator II, I fulfilled the responsibilities of the Clinical Recovery Coordinator I, but with the added responsibility of being a preceptor and a senior coordinator. My expertise in organ donor management, the organ donation process as a whole and my experience with families was used to further improve the organs donated per donor as well as to support grieving families through the donation process. Clinical responsibilities were the same as Clinical Recovery Coordinator I. Show less As a Clinical Recovery Coordinator, I fulfilled responsibilities pertaining the organization and coordination of the organ donation process within 44 hospitals throughout the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. Specifically, I responded to referrals from hospitals in a timely manner evaluating the patient being referred over the phone before going to the hospital to evaluate the chart in person. While onsite evaluating the patient’s electronic medical record I coordinated the donation process by huddling with the care team to determine the likely clinical course for the patient as well as informing them of the organ donation potential for the patient. I coordinated the hospital, our family services specialists, and the family in having a donation discussion. Upon approval of donation, I initiated the donation process itself by assuming clinical responsibility for the patient, improving organ function through careful monitoring of labs and giving medications culminating in going to the operating room for organ recovery. I worked with allocation coordinators and transplant centers, organizing the logistics of getting transplant surgeons to the donor hospital. During the operative phase I communicated with my allocation coordinator, my administrator on-call, the transplant surgeons, and their teams back at their hospital and documented all organ anatomy, medications, and operative details. At the completion of the case I notified all parties involved (Medical Examiner if applicable, the family, hospital staff, WRTC staff) and completed thorough documentation. Show less As a Clinical Recovery Associate (CRA-I) I was responsible for all tasks relevant to the recovery of organs from donors for transplant including: taking referral calls from hospitals for potential organ and tissue donor patients, traveling to the donor hospital to organize and set up the operating room with all supplies, back tables, instruments, and medications, packaging, labeling and distribution of recovered organs, as well as allocation of organs to recipient transplant centers per the Organ Procurement Transplant Network (OPTN) and United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) policies. I fulfilled administrative duties to support the mission of organ, eye, and tissue donation as well.I ensured hospital compliance with JHACO and CMS requirements through regular Medical Record Review of referral lists and death lists and reviewed charts onsite as well to determine if potential donors were missed.I gave General Nursing Orientations (GNO) to new hospital nurses at many of our 44 hospitals throughout our service area and informed them of their relationship with WRTC, what we were responsible for as an Organ Procurement Organization (OPO), why and how we dd it. Through these orientation lectures new nurses were given the information needed to be able to fulfill their JHACO, CMS, and hospital policy requirements with regard to their interactions with WRTC and organ, eye, and tissue donation. I also gave Operating Room In-Services for operating room staff to teach them about their roles within the donor OR and how we could best work together to facilitate successful outcomes.I was also one of the lead kidney perfusionists for WRTC that was in charge, in conjunction with our Medical Director, of properly preserving kidneys using pulsatile preservation devices. I was responsible for making clinical interventions (with medicinal inputs) to ensure the proper functioning and optimization of kidneys that were on the mechanical perfusion device. Show less

  • Clinical Recovery Coordinator II

    May 2017 - Jul 2017

  • Clinical Recovery Coordinator I

    May 2015 - May 2017

  • Clinical Recovery Associate III

    Jul 2014 - May 2015

  • Clinical Recovery Associate II

    Jul 2013 - Jul 2014

  • Clinical Recovery Associate I

    Jul 2012 - Jul 2013
• 

  Buckeye Transplant Services

  Jun 2017 - now

  As VP of Business Development & Logistics Operations I direct, manage, and oversee the overall strategic missions of the business development and logistics divisions. I work with the President, Executive Vice President, and Chief Operating Officer to ensure our missions are accomplished, goals and targets are met, innovative processes developed, and the the growth of the organization is measured and sustainable. I represent the organization remotely and at conferences/meetings in a high-level sales capacity, meet with potential and current clients regarding services such as clinical or logistical offerings, negotiate contracts, partnerships, and joint ventures. Show less As the Director of Business Development, I am responsible for the presentation of new technological, procedural, data, and analytical innovations and initiatives as well as our new model and method of billing for contracts to both current and prospective clients. I meet with current and prospective clients utilizing remote communication platforms as well as in person to provide ongoing support for our clients regarding processes, procedures, goals, and outcomes. I am also responsible for generating new business for Buckeye Transplant Services and do so by attending strategically important conferences and meeting. I have also been responsible for the ongoing development of critical internal technological developments including, but not limited to advising on the creation and utilization practices of such new platforms and the onboarding, education, and training on their use. Show less As the Clinical Services Manager of Division 1, I was responsible for overseeing multiple transplant center contracts. I ensured our teams were well-trained, compliant with transplant event processes, knowledgeable of multiple EMR systems, and in the best position to perform according to and above client expectations. I managed each contract through immediate follow-up when necessary, long and short-term strategy development, ongoing education/training and provided an expert knowledge on their inner workings to provide superb service and be the best possible resource for our coordinators and transplant partners. Other responsibilities included initiation of and following through with employee performance improvement plans, transplant center scheduling, and data management including, but not limited to processing of organ offer dispositions for transplant center reporting. I managed the contracts for over 20 transplant centers with 30 coordinators as direct reports. Show less As an Organ Transplant Coordinator for Buckeye Transplant Services (BTS) I worked with multiple transplant centers across the United States to facilitate an increase in solid organ transplants, improve outcomes and continue implementation and expansion of best practices across the transplant industry. Using transplant center specific organizational process flows and daily action logs I have collaborated with colleagues at BTS, transplant surgeons, nurse coordinators, Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) personnel, HLA laboratories and more to achieve these ends. Show less

  • Vice President of Business Development & Logistics Operations

    Jan 2025 - now

  • Director of Business Development

    Mar 2023 - Jan 2025

  • Clinical Services Manager

    Nov 2019 - Dec 2023

  • Transplant Coordinator

    Jun 2017 - Nov 2019