Blood is taken from volunteers and given without hesitation to those who need it, but there’s a lot of money exchanged within the seemingly simple process.
University Medical Center, a non-profit hospital in Lubbock, spent $3.2 million for donated blood products in 2013.
Workers at UMC’s transfusion service test blood before giving it to patients.
This included purchasing basic red blood cells that are used to carry oxygen through the patient’s bloodstream, plasma to help make blood clot, and platelets that work with the clotting factors in plasma to prevent bleeding.
Allison Kelly, the technical supervisor in UMC’s transfusion service, said there’s a business side of blood.
Most donors assume the blood is taken directly from the donor to the recipient, she said, but there are labor and supplies involved.
Kelly said she didn’t know the exact pricing of each product because it fluctuates, but a unit of red blood cells, which is .95 pint, costs about $100.
“I don’t know exact pricing numbers because we negotiate pricing just like everything else, you negotiate,” she said. “Each product, depending how much work they have to do on the donor side, is going to be more.”
Platelets are the most expensive product, costing closer to $600, Kelly said.
For some, the price of blood is shocking.
Rohan Ban, a student at Texas Tech University, was in the hospital because of ulcerative colitis for a little more than a week last year.
Ban said he received seven units of blood during his stay at the hospital. Each unit cost him about $1,000, he said, so the total charge for blood when he left was $7,000.
Ban and his family are from India, which has a different way of distributing blood.
“I was surprised,” he said about seeing the hospital bill. “I thought it was free. If somebody from your family or your friend donates that much blood in India, it’s free for you.”
United Blood Services
All the blood used in Lubbock’s hospitals is local, coming from United Blood Services. Kelly said getting blood from other donation centers in the state may be cheaper, but if they were to run low on supplies, they wouldn’t be able to get it quickly.
Fortunately, she said, there isn’t an overabundance of hospitals in this area, so there are no bidding competitions to drive up prices.
Lubbock’s blood bank
Les Long, a donor recruitment supervisor at United Blood Services, said they’re the sole provider to 20 hospitals that use about 140 units of blood every day.
United Blood Services is part of Blood Systems, one of the nation’s largest blood service providers. Blood Systems includes two other blood center divisions, along with a research institution and BioCARE, a national plasma distributor.
According to its financial report, Blood Systems’ total revenues in 2011 were more than $735 million, which included service fees, testing services and the sale of pharmaceutical products.
Its total expenses in the same year were nearly $719 million, equaling a net income of more than $16 million.
Long said United Blood Services has three major goals: keeping blood safe; maintaining an adequate blood supply; and making sure it’s cost effective.
The Food and Drug Administration regulates blood banks. According to the FDA’s Compliance Program Guidance Manual, the guidelines and standards are to make sure biological products are safe, pure and potent.
Keeping the blood safe is what most of the cost is from, Long said.
There are five layers of safety, the report states. Along with donor screenings and deferrals, the FDA also ensures that the blood is properly tested, put in isolation until tests are acceptable, and constant monitoring.
Workers at UMC’s transfusion service analyze blood in front of their stockpile.
The FDA does not have a formal cooperative program with state and local governments.
Problems with Blood Transfusions
Prior to giving blood, donors fill out questionnaires, take part in a small interview, have a minor physical and are tested for blood pressure. If that’s successful, a small amount of blood is withdrawn to analyze blood count.
The blood banks take the blood once the sample is cleared.
After blood is drawn, Long said a small amount of it is flown to the main testing lab in Bedford, Texas, where it’s tested for blood type, given antibody screens and checked for viruses such as HIV and HTLV.
If it’s safe, United Blood Services puts the rest of the blood in storage until one of the hospitals need it.
The price of blood covers these operation costs, Long said.
According to the World Health Organization, of the 60 percent of citizens who are eligible to donate blood, only about 5 percent actually do.
The price of blood does not fluctuate too much, Long said. A few examples of what would cause prices to increase are if the Food and Drug Administration increased several guidelines or the hospital’s usage went dropped significantly.
United Blood Services is the second largest nonprofit blood draw in the United States, Long said, so if there’s an inadequate blood supply, they’ll have it brought in from one of their networking sights. When this happens, they pay for the cost of the other sites’ operations.
Importing blood does not increase the price for hospitals.
Susan Cooper is the medical technologist at UMC’s transfusion service. Cooper is responsible for keeping track of the blood usage reports, and said UMC averages about 1,000 units per month.
“People ask,” she said, “if the blood is free, why is the bill so high? The donor gives it freely. I’ve donated many free units. However, somebody has to pay for that bag it’s in, somebody has to pay the person who stuck the needle in your arm, somebody’s got to pay for all those blood tests that prove it’s OK to give it to you.”
The $3.2 million UMC paid for blood products was $500,000 less than the previous year.
Kelly said this was made possible by asking their doctors to limit the amount of blood given to patients and to become more aware of the expiration dates.
Be sure to read companion article, “Problems With Blood Transfusions.“
About Matt Dotray
