The kidney transplant waitlist

Dialysis keeps you alive; a transplant is usually the better long-term treatment. The waitlist starts with a referral — and transplant centres evaluate patients long before a kidney is available.

Step 1: Referral and evaluation

A nephrologist or dialysis facility refers you to a transplant centre. The centre evaluates your heart, infection risk, cancer history and social support, and explains the surgery and medicines. Most patients can be evaluated before dialysis even starts — earlier is better.

Step 2: Getting listed

Once approved, you are listed with the national organ-sharing system, which matches kidneys by blood type, tissue compatibility, waiting time and medical urgency. Waiting times vary enormously by region and blood type — often several years in dense areas.

What the facility pages mean

Each dialysis facility page shows the percentage of prevalent patients waitlisted for a kidney transplant as reported to CMS. A higher share can indicate a facility that refers and supports patients actively; a low share may reflect an older or sicker patient mix, or weaker transplant referral practice. Ask the facility how it handles referrals.

Living donation

A living donor — often a family member or friend — can shorten or bypass the deceased-donor wait. Living-donor kidneys generally last longer, and the donor is evaluated and protected by a separate medical team. Ask the transplant centre about paired exchange programmes if your donor is not a match.

Staying ready

Keep appointments, follow the medicine plan and stay as healthy as possible; the wait can be long and your place depends on remaining an active candidate. Medicare covers transplant evaluation, surgery and most immunosuppressive drugs for life.

Written and maintained by the US Dialysis Centers data team · last reviewed 2026-10-24 · sources and methodology.