title: The economic impact of MELD on liver transplant centers.
abstract: Adoption of the model for end stage liver disease (MELD) system prioritized patients awaiting liver transplant (LT) by severity of illness including progressive renal dysfunction. Unfortunately, current reimbursement for LT is not adjusted by severity of illness or need for simultaneous liver-kidney transplantation (LKT). This study examines hospital cost and reimbursement for LT and LKT to determine the effect of MELD on transplant center (TC) financial outcomes given current reimbursement practices as well as DRG outlier threshold limits. LT was performed for 86 adults prior to and 127 following the implementation of MELD. Between the eras, there was a substantial increase in the average laboratory MELD score (17.1 to 20.7 p=0.004) and percentage of LKTs performed (5.8% to 17.3% p=0.01). Increasing MELD score was associated with higher costs ($4309 per MELD point p<0.001) and decreasing TC net income ($1512 per MELD point p<0.001). In patients not achieving the Medicare outlier status, predicted net loss was $17,700 for high-MELD patients and $19,133 for those needing LKT. In conclusion, contractual reimbursement agreements that are not indexed by severity of disease may not reflect the increased costs resulting from the MELD system. Even with outlier thresholds, Medicare reimbursement is inadequate resulting in a net loss for the TC.
authors.affiliation: Division of Transplant Surgery, Department of Surgery, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Axelrod
authors.forename: Alan J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Koffron
authors.forename: Talia
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.forename: Patrice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Al-Saden
authors.forename: Irma
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dixler
authors.forename: Gwen
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: McNatt
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sumner
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vaci
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abecassis
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D015276:Health Care Rationing; D006801:Humans; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000628:therapy; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods*; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D018579:Patient Selection; D012042:Registries; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014850:Waiting Lists