Timothy Hurson, Randall Schaefer, Christine Carico, Russell Griffin, Eric Bank, Jon Krohmer, Donald Jenkins, John Holcomb, Zain Hashmi
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Evaluating reimbursement for prehospital blood transfusions: A nationwide survey.
Background: Prehospital blood transfusion improves survival among patients in hemorrhagic shock but remains underutilized, in part due to financial barriers. However, little is known about how prehospital blood transfusion programs are reimbursed. The objective of this study is to determine the percentage of prehospital blood transfusion programs that receive reimbursement, the percentage of patients receiving blood who were public health insurance-eligible (pediatric and geriatric patients), and the most common reason for blood transfusions in these populations.
Study design and methods: An electronic survey was administered to Emergency Medical Services agencies with an active blood transfusion program in 2024.
Results and discussion: Of the 53/150 agencies who responded to the survey, only 6 (11%) agencies reported receiving reimbursement for prehospital blood transfusions. However, 53 (100%) agencies reported transfusing geriatric patients, and 43 (81%) agencies reported transfusing pediatric patients, both groups that are eligible for public health insurance. Medical emergencies were the most common indications for transfusion in geriatric patients, whereas blunt and/or penetrating injuries were the primary indications for transfusion in pediatric patients. For most agencies, geriatric and pediatric patients were frequent recipients of blood transfusions, each comprising up to 50% of the total transfusions administered.
Conclusion: Many patients who receive prehospital blood transfusion are public health insurance-eligible. Health policy changes to enable government reimbursement for prehospital blood transfusions would provide critical financial support for this life-saving intervention.
期刊介绍:
TRANSFUSION is the foremost publication in the world for new information regarding transfusion medicine. Written by and for members of AABB and other health-care workers, TRANSFUSION reports on the latest technical advances, discusses opposing viewpoints regarding controversial issues, and presents key conference proceedings. In addition to blood banking and transfusion medicine topics, TRANSFUSION presents submissions concerning patient blood management, tissue transplantation and hematopoietic, cellular, and gene therapies.