In 1983 the National Institute of Health (NIH), consensus development conference concluded that liver transplantation was not an experimental procedure but an effective therapy that deserved broader application. In 1986, UNOS receives the initial federal contract to operate the OPTN (organ procurement and transplantation network). Before implementation of the current allocation system, the waiting time for a liver transplant grew constantly from an average of 225 days in 1994 to 1811 days in 1999. Adding patients early on to the transplant list based on the necessity to accrue waiting time, rather than on medical urgency, was one of the main reasons behind the continuous growth of the waiting lists. The new system drastically de-emphasizes the importance of waiting time and imposes minimal criteria for transplantation, leading to a significant reduction in overall waiting time.