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Payment for living donor (vendor) kidneys: a cost-effectiveness analysis
Arthur J Matas1, Mark Schnitzler
1University of Minnesota, MN, USA. matas001@tc.umn.edu
Summary
Paying kidney vendors could save society over $90,000 per transplant. This approach increases organ supply, reduces wait times, and improves quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients.
Area of Science:
- Nephrology
- Transplantation Medicine
- Health Economics
Background:
- Kidney transplant waiting lists are long due to insufficient organ supply.
- This shortage fuels debate on compensating living kidney donors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the cost-effectiveness of using paid living unrelated donors (LURD) for kidney transplantation.
- To quantify societal cost savings and outcome benefits of increasing organ supply through paid vendors.
Main Methods:
- A Markov model was employed to simulate costs and outcomes.
- Calculated expected average costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained per transplant.
Main Results:
- A paid LURD kidney transplant saved $94,579 and gained 3.5 QALYs.
- When valuing QALYs, the total societal saving reached $269,319 per transplant.
- A vendor program offers a minimum societal saving of over $90,000 per transplant.
Conclusions:
- Paying kidney vendors is cost-effective, saving society significant funds.
- Vendor programs can break even at payments of $90,000 per kidney.
- This strategy improves outcomes for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients by increasing organ availability.