title: The impact of converting to an all frozen blood system in a large regional blood center.
abstract: We studied the impact of converting to an all frozen blood system in a large regional blood center. Several basic assumptions were made including the availability of a sterile docking device which would increase the shelf life of deglycerolized blood to 72 hours. Our study indicated that the most economical manner in which to implement such a program would be to supply deglycerolized blood to all hospitals transfusing more than 500 units per year and to provide frozen units to hospitals transfusing less then this amount (those hospitals would deglycerolize the blood they use). The estimated total cost of the proposed conversion was 3.9 million dollars or a 76 per cent increase over the present operation. Relative to our present fee structure, the average cost of a unit of blood would increase 80 per cent if only frozen or deglycerolized red blood cells were distributed.
mesh_terms: D001771:Blood Banks; D001793:Blood Preservation / Q000379:methods*; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D004469:Economics, Hospital; D005615:Freezing; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois; D008923:Missouri; D010361:Patients; D012011:Red Cross