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President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan bill into law on Friday that a Republican Indiana Congressman helped introduce earlier this year. 

U.S. Rep. Larry Bucshon, R-Ind., and U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill.,  in April introduced H.R. 2544, Securing the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Act, which opens up the number of groups that can help operate the transplant network and help speed up the process for organ transplants. 

The House bill saw companion legislation in the U.S. Senate from a bipartisan group of senators that included Indiana Sens. Todd Young and Mike Braun.

Bucshon, who was a doctor and heart surgeon before running for office, represents Indiana’s 8th Congressional District covering areas in Southern Indiana. The congressman was first elected in 2010. 

Here’s what you need to know about the new law. 

What is the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network? 

The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network is a public-private partnership that operates a national registry for organ matching and connects people involved in the U.S. organ donation system, such as people that sign organ donor cards, according to the network’s website. 

The network aims to improve the country’s organ donation system to increase transplant availability, the website states. 

What does the bill do? 

H.R. 2544 allows the Health Resources and Services Administration to work with multiple organizations to operate the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network and allows unlimited funding to support it in an effort to make the organ transplant process faster. Previously, only one organization had a contract to manage the donor network, according to the bill. 

"As a physician in Congress, my focus is on ensuring that HRSA has the authority that it needs to act on behalf of patients and ensure that the best innovators are able to compete, and play their part in saving lives,” Bucshon said in July.

What happened before the president signed it? 

Bucshon and Kelly introduced the bill in the House of Representatives in April. The bill passed the House on July 25 and then the Senate July 27. It was presented to Biden Sept. 14 and the president then signed it Friday, Sept. 22. 

Who else supported it? 

The bill was cosponsored by 10 House members: six Democrats and four Republicans. 

A companion bill in the U.S. Senate also had bipartisan support from cosponsors that included Young and Braun. 

Young in 2020 joined a bipartisan group of senators in a Finance Committee investigation into failures of the country’s organ donation system. 

On Friday, Young in a statement celebrated the president signing the bill into law. 

“This is an important day for thousands of Americans who are in need of life-saving transplants,” Young said in a statement. “The bipartisan Securing the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Act includes necessary reforms that will help ensure accountability and transformation in the organ donation and transplant system. I’m glad to see this life-saving bill signed into law.”