Living kidney donation in
Pennsylvania
Verified centers in Pennsylvania
Albert Einstein Medical Center
Philadelphia, PA
NLDAC financial assistance · not yet verifiedPaired exchange · not yet verifiedAllegheny General Hospital
Pittsburgh, PA
NLDAC financial assistance · not yet verifiedPaired exchangeAHN's living-donor kidney page says the program is a member of the National Kidney Registry and pairs donors with recipients through paired donation, with two coordinators devoted to guiding donors through the process.
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA
NLDAC financial assistance · not yet verifiedPaired exchangeA pediatric program. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's living-donor page says adult-donor evaluation happens at Penn Medicine's Transplant Institute at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and the partnership offers National Kidney Registry access for paired donation.
Geisinger Medical Center
Danville, PA
NLDAC financial assistance · not yet verifiedPaired exchange · not yet verifiedGeisinger's kidney-transplant page says living-donor surgery is done through a minimally invasive procedure and donors usually go home the following day.
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
NLDAC financial assistance · not yet verifiedPaired exchange · not yet verifiedThe University of Pennsylvania's own Almanac says Penn Medicine's Center for Living Donation counsels donors who already have a person in mind, are willing to take part in a paired kidney exchange, or want to donate to anyone in need through a non-directed donation.
Lehigh Valley Hospital
Allentown, PA
NLDAC financial assistance · not yet verifiedPaired exchangeLehigh Valley Health Network's become-a-living-donor page describes a kidney exchange in which an incompatible donor-recipient pair swaps with another incompatible pair so each recipient receives a compatible kidney.
Pinnacle Health System at Harrisburg Hospital
Harrisburg, PA
NLDAC financial assistance · not yet verifiedPaired exchangeUPMC's central Pennsylvania transplant page says its living-donor kidney transplant program at Harrisburg provides a dedicated Independent Living Donor Advocate for living donors, and offers a paired donor exchange for incompatible donor-recipient pairs.
Temple University Hospital
Philadelphia, PA
NLDAC financial assistance · not yet verifiedPaired exchangeTemple's living-kidney-donation page says its Kidney Transplant Program participates in a paired kidney exchange program, and that all potential donors undergo thorough medical and psychological evaluation before donation.
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Philadelphia, PA
NLDAC financial assistance · not yet verifiedPaired exchangeJefferson Health's living-donor kidney transplant page says it partners with multiple paired donation registries, including the National Kidney Registry, and that donors and recipients are each assigned a personal transplant coordinator.
UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA
NLDAC financial assistance · not yet verifiedPaired exchange · not yet verifiedUPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh's kidney transplant page says its program offers living-donor kidney transplants, including a preemptive option performed before a child begins dialysis.
UPMC Hamot
Erie, PA
NLDAC financial assistance · not yet verifiedPaired exchange · not yet verifiedUPMC Hamot's kidney transplant page says the hospital runs a living-donor kidney transplant program, based at its Bayfront Professional Building location in Erie.
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Pittsburgh, PA
NLDAC financial assistance · not yet verifiedPaired exchangeUPMC's living-donor kidney evaluation page says the program offers paired exchange for donor and recipient pairs with incompatible blood types, and assigns each donor a dedicated transplant coordinator to guide them through the process.
VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System
Pittsburgh, PA
NLDAC financial assistancePaired exchange · not yet verifiedVA Pittsburgh's transplant program page says it performs living-donor kidney transplantation in-house for Veterans, following referral from a primary VA physician and review by a medical review board.
Living donors in Pennsylvania: grade B
Pennsylvania has 3 of the seven protections tracked, which is around the national middle. Check which ones cover your situation before you plan around them.
What the American Kidney Fund tracks, in every state
- Insurance companies cannot deny you life, disability or long-term care cover, or charge you more, because you donated
- Job-protected leave if you work for the state
- Job-protected leave if you work for a private employer
- Paid leave for living donors
- A tax credit or deduction for your donation costs
- Direct reimbursement of donation expenses
- A tax credit for employers who give donors paid leave
This is the full list AKF scores every state against — not a claim about which of these Pennsylvania has. The fact sheet below has that detail, and it is more current than anything cached here.
Federal family leave can already cover donation. A law written for living donors has not passed yet.
The Department of Labor's position, set out in a formal opinion letter, is that donation surgery and the recovery after it count as a serious health condition under the Family and Medical Leave Act whenever they involve an overnight hospital stay, as donation surgery commonly does. So if you are eligible under that Act, you can take leave to donate and recover, come back to the same or an equivalent job, and keep your group health cover while you are away. The leave itself is unpaid, though paid leave your employer offers can run alongside it. Eligibility depends on the size of your employer and your workplace, and on how long and how many hours you have worked there — the Department of Labor's fact sheet sets out the exact tests, and your employer's HR team can confirm them for you.
The Living Donor Protection Act would write that leave protection into the law itself, and would stop life, disability and long-term care insurers from refusing cover or charging more because you donated. It has not passed. The Senate version has cleared its committee and is awaiting a floor vote; the House version has not moved since it was introduced. Paid leave, and protection for anyone the family-leave law does not reach, depends on what your state has done.
U.S. Department of Labor, opinion letter FMLA2018-2-A; U.S. Department of Labor, FMLA eligibility fact sheet; Congress.gov, S. 1552 / H.R. 4583, checked 24 September 2026
What it costs, and what covers it
The recipient's insurance covers a donor's evaluation, surgery and follow-up. Programs like NLDAC reimburse travel, lodging, dependent care and lost wages for donors who need it — the donor guide walks through both, with sources.
Talk to someone who has donated
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Browse campaignsMy Kidney Story does not collect, store, or evaluate medical information, and nothing on this page is medical advice. Donor eligibility is determined solely by a transplant center after its own independent evaluation.
My Kidney Story is independent and is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any center listed here, SRTR, OPTN or NLDAC.