To be put on the waiting list for a heart transplant, a form must be completed by a facility that is a participating member of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). The UNOS member will enter the application (which includes information from the patient and his or her physician) into an online database. When a "match" organ becomes available, the hospital will be contacted by an organ procurement organization (OPO) about scheduling a transplant surgery with the patient.

The registration and selection process is based on urgency of need, size and blood type. A heart may be made available immediately, or patients may be placed on standby for several months or, in the least critical cases, even years. Once a patient has been registered as a transplant candidate, however, the physician will continuously report any change in his or her condition to UNOS.

The entire policy of the waiting list can be read online at www.UNOS.org. Despite the depth of this information, it is common to have specific questions about the list. One Web site that may be helpful is www.TransWeb.org, which presents information from UNOS officials in response to people's questions.