Rhode Island program
Help with transplant expenses (Organ Transplant Fund)
Rhode Island's Organ Transplant Fund helps with transplant expenses that insurance does not pay.
What it is
Rhode Island's Organ Transplant Fund helps with transplant expenses that insurance does not pay.
A transplant can leave a family with travel and living costs as well as medical bills. This fund includes bone-marrow transplants. It has income, residency and insurance conditions, and an award is not guaranteed.
Eligibility rules
- Rhode Island residence before transplant and transplant insurance are required. Bone-marrow transplantation is included.
- Income up to about 700% of poverty. You must have lived in Rhode Island before the transplant and have insurance that covers it.
What you get
- Possible help with eligible transplant expenses that insurance does not pay, subject to the fund’s current approval and available money.
- Help with eligible out-of-state living costs for up to 60 days.
What this covers
- Support addresses transplant costs left after insurance. Out-of-state family living expenses are limited to 60 days.
- The law permits eligible out-of-state family living expenses for up to 60 days at the time of transplant, limited by the state employee lodging and subsistence rate. The current dollar rate, whether these costs use the published $15,000 lifetime allowance, and how the 60 days apply across more than one transplant need the fund’s written answer. Current funding is not guaranteed.
If you decide to apply
- Contact the fund through the DHS page for the current application and submission address.
- Ask the transplant social worker to help assemble the transplant plan, insurance information and household income records.
Rhode Island DHS Organ Transplant Fund · Official page ↗
What happens next
- DHS decides whether it can make an award from available funds.
- Your transplant social worker can ask DHS at 1-855-697-4347 for the current application, submission address and timing in writing. The fund must confirm whether expenses already incurred can be considered and whether a filing deadline applies.
Good to know
The fund depends on available money. It is separate from approval for the transplant itself.
Other details
- Chemotherapy without a transplant is outside this fund's purpose. Treatment phase alone does not establish a transplant plan.
Official sources
“If a transplant becomes part of our child's care, could this fund help with uncovered bills or living away from home? What are its limits, and could you help us apply if it fits?”
Why I’m asking: I want to understand which transplant-related expenses might have a separate source of help.
More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules
Who does what
The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.
You
Email first to confirm the address, then apply with the transplant plan and your insurance details.
Your social worker
The hospital social worker can supply the transplant documentation.
The care team
Records and letters when the application asks for them.
- Who decides
- The state human services department, subject to available money.
- Ask your social worker
- “A transplant is planned. Can you help us apply to the state organ transplant fund?”
How to apply
First step: Email the fund for the current application and the correct address.
- Email the fund and ask for the current application and the correct address.
- Ask what it covers for a bone-marrow transplant and what the out-of-state living allowance is now.
- The transplant social worker can confirm the current submission destination and whether any pre-transplant or reimbursement deadline applies before the family chooses to submit records.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: Email the fund before sending anything: the mailing address conflicts between the application and the web page.
What to gather
The diagnosis letter, the child’s insurance card, and the last two pay stubs cover most applications. The official page lists the rest.
Watch out
- It is not an entitlement and depends on money being available.
- The income boundary and the mailing address conflict across official materials. Email first.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 10, 2026.
What it is worth
Possible help with eligible unreimbursed transplant and related living expenses, subject to the fund’s current rules and available money.
- $15,000 — Published lifetime maximum, subject to available funds
Covers: Payment toward transplant costs insurance has not covered · Out-of-state family living expenses for no more than 60 days
What it costs the family: Free to apply. It is not an entitlement and depends on available money.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Medical
- transplant, with bone marrow named in the brochure
- Residency
- Rhode Island residence before the transplant, with transplant insurance in place
- Income
- the brochure says income does not exceed 700% of poverty; the web page says below 700%, and the conflict is unresolved
- Limit
- $15,000 lifetime, subject to funding; out-of-state living expenses for no more than 60 days
The trap: It is not an entitlement, and it depends on money being available. Do not count on it: apply, and treat a yes as a bonus.
Where I read this
- DHS — The Organ Transplant Fund — Rhode Island Department of Human Services, read September 10, 2026
- DHS — Organ Transplant Fund eligibility brochure (currently linked in 2026, undated) — Rhode Island Department of Human Services, read September 10, 2026
- R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-11-13 — Rhode Island organ transplant fund — Rhode Island General Assembly, read September 10, 2026