Economic Implications of Pathogen Reduced and Bacterially Tested Platelet Components: A US Hospital Budget Impact...

Area of Science:

• Transfusion Medicine
• Microbiology
• Health Economics

Background:

• US FDA guidance recommends pathogen reduction (PR) or rapid bacterial testing (RT) to reduce bacterial contamination in platelet components (PC).
• Hospitals need tools to evaluate these risk mitigation technologies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the budget impact of PR-PC and RT-PC for hospitals.
• To analyze costs associated with different platelet component strategies.

Main Methods:

• An interactive budget impact model was developed using Microsoft Excel.
• Costs and probabilities were sourced from literature and a survey of US hospital transfusion directors.
• Annual costs were compared for four scenarios: conventional PCs (C-PC), 100% RT-PC, 100% PR-PC, and a 50% RT-PC/50% PR-PC mix.

Main Results:

• Total annual costs were $3.64M (C-PC), $3.67M (RT-PC), $3.96M (PR-PC), and $3.81M (50% RT-PC/50% PR-PC).
• Net cost of PR-PC was 6.18% higher than RT-PC after accounting for reimbursements.
• Shelf lives were 3.0 days (C-PC), 5.0 days (RT-PC), and 3.6 days (PR-PC); PR-PC availability was earliest at 1.37 days.

Conclusions:

• PR-PC shows minimal cost increase over RT-PC, with offsets from reduced testing and irradiation, plus reimbursement.
• Enhanced safety from PR, including mitigation of transfusion-transmitted pathogens, may justify the cost.
• PR-PC offers faster availability, while RT-PC may offer a longer shelf life, depending on logistics.