Does patient blood management represent good value for money?

Abstract

Patient blood management is the umbrella term for a suite of initiatives designed to optimise blood product usage, minimise transfusion needs, and ensure appropriate and evidence-based transfusion practices. In this review we summarise published economic evaluations of patient blood management to determine whether they represent good value for money. We identified 54 economic evaluations of patient blood management, the majority of which had positive cost-effectiveness conclusions. In particular, anaemia management with ferric carboxymaltose, adopting a restrictive transfusion strategy, and the administration of tranexamic acid appear likely to be highly cost effective. Intraoperative cell salvage may be cost effective if used in patients at high risk of bleeding. Overall, patient blood management programmes are likely to reduce costs and improve patient outcomes in a wide range of patient populations. No identified evaluations included an assessment of the impact of patient blood management on preserving the blood supply.