The Caitlin Raymond International Registry (CRIR) was a bone marrow registry that was a subsidiary of the UMass Memorial Health Ventures Inc in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

, Massachusetts.

Organization

The officers of CRIR are Gary Lapidas, Robert Feldmann, and Francis Smith and the organization's directors are John Budd, Brian Carroll, Frederick Crocker, William Kelleher, Gary Lapidas, John O'Brien, and William Sullivan.

Criticism

The registry became the target of criticism when it was discovered that the UMass lab was billing the insurance of potential donors $700–$1500 and as much as $4336 per

screening Screening may refer to: * Screening cultures, a type a medical test that is done to find an infection * Screening (economics), a strategy of combating adverse selection (includes sorting resumes to select employees) * Screening (environmental), a ...

. (Most labs charge about $100 for similar screening.) CRIR has also been criticized for spending up to $60,000 a week to hire models with blue wigs and high heels to lure donors and for paying its top executive, Joanne Raymond, over $200,000 in annual salary and benefits.
/ref> The registry reported revenues of over $5 million during the same period. CRIR and UMass are currently under investigation by the attorneys general of

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

and

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island have laws requiring insurers to pay for bone marrow screening.

Closure

On September 30, 2013, the Caitlin Raymond International Registry closed and the donor registry was taken over by Be The Match, of

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, a nonprofit organization operated by the

National Marrow Donor Program The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1986 and based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that operates the Be The Match Registry of volunteer hematopoietic cell donors and umbilical cord blood units in the Unite ...

. The reason for closure by

UMass Memorial Health Care UMass Memorial Health (UMM Health) is the clinical partner of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the largest healthcare system in Central Massachusetts. It is a not-for-profit/nonprofit healthcare network providing all levels of pri ...

was given as consolidation of business practices and the Caitlin Raymond International Registry was not part of the health care network's core business. In 2012, CRIR was fined $800,000 by attorneys general in Massachusetts and New Hampshire for "unfair and deceptive acts" related to charging millions of dollars in lab fees. UMass Memorial said the severing of the relationship with CRIR had more to do with finances than it is about the scandal.

References

{{authority control Transplant organizations Cancer organizations based in the United States Charity scandals Insurance fraud University of Massachusetts Medical School Medical and health organizations based in Massachusetts