What This Statute Says
The statute creates a streamlined pathway for nationally accredited procurement organizations.
A procurement organization that is licensed pursuant to section 36-851.01 by virtue of its accreditation status:
1. Is deemed to meet health and safety requirements that are equivalent to those set forth in section 36-851.03 and is not required to meet the requirements prescribed in section 36-851.03 except as specified in paragraph 2 of this section if the procurement organization maintains its accredited status with the accrediting agency.
2. Shall comply with all of the following as adopted in rule by the department of health services: (a) The proper use and maintenance of donor consent forms. (b) The implementation and maintenance of proper identification systems for bodies and disarticulated items. (c) The implementation and maintenance of protocols and materials for procedures used by the procurement organization to properly screen end users. (d) The proper documentation and disclosure of the disease status of tissue specimens to end users. (e) Labeling, packaging, transport and distribution policies and procedures. (f) Final disposition procedures.
The procurement organization is also subject to inspection by DHS at any time.
When This Statute Comes Into Play
The provision applies to procurement organizations that hold accreditation from a nationally recognized accrediting body approved by DHS. Those organizations avoid duplicate state inspection of the operational items already covered by accreditation, while remaining bound to the specified consent, identification, screening, and disposition rules.
What This Means for Arizona Families
The deemed-status pathway is regulatory architecture. It says that an accredited organization does not have to demonstrate the same things to DHS that the accrediting agency has already verified. But the organization still has to follow Arizona's specific rules on consent, identification, and disposition.
For families, the value is that donor consent forms, body identification, and final disposition of donated tissue all remain under regulatory oversight even when the organization is accredited rather than separately state-inspected. Our FAQ on making organ-donation wishes legally binding covers the donor side. The infrastructure that receives those gifts operates under the state-licensed framework set up in sections 36-851.01 through 36-851.03, with the donor's documented wishes from their healthcare directive traveling through that regulated channel.