Economics of patient blood management in the United States: a narrative review

Abstract

Background and Objective: Patient blood management (PBM) programs have recently been defined as ‘a patient-centered, systemic, evidence-based approach to improve patient outcomes by managing and preserving a patient’s own blood, while promoting patient safety and empowerment’. Many benefits are associated with developing a PBM program. These include reducing donor exposure, ensuring a safe blood supply, and potential cost savings from utilizing alternative therapies. Once blood is collected, it must be processed and tested for immunohematologic and transfusion-transmitted disease markers. The collection, testing, processing, and manufacturing of blood components contribute to their increasing cost. In the United States (U.S.), the cost associated with manufacturing blood components is then transferred to the transfusion services that acquire the components. The transfusion service then performs additional testing on the blood/blood component. The component is then priced for the recipient,