Costs and financing. A cost calculation of an up-to-date eye bank in Germany

To estimate the averaged cost of processing a corneal graft for keratoplasty.

We estimated the total running costs of a German corneal bank for one year. All procurement-related expenses were calculated on the basis of 300 donors per year and a disavowal percentage of 50%.

The running costs comprise of personnel (2 physicians, 2 technicians), amortization of equipment, laboratory costs, laboratory consumables, occupancy costs and quality management. Annual expenses total 584000 EUR. This aggregation divided by 300 corneal grafts released for transplantation results in a nominal charge of 1950 EUR per corneal graft.

The DRG system in Germany (in-patients at a base rate of 1.0) refunds only 850 EUR, leaving a financial gap of 1100 EUR per keratoplasty. This financial burden is currently left over to the eye bank and/or the surgeon.