Organ procurement: expenditures and financial incentives.

Abstract

... One is struck by the high level of organ procurement charges in spite of the characterization of organ procurement as altruistic. Although the median organ procurement charges in 1988, documented by Evans, ranged from nearly $16,000 to nearly $21,000 (1991 dollars), there was not a penny for the accident victim's/organ donor's family. That some transplant hospitals routinely marked up charges they paid to organ procurement organizations by as much as 200% hardly seems consistent with altruism. Viewed generously, organ recipients and payers on their behalf are being asked to cross-subsidize other worthy causes in which transplant hospitals engage. If the organ procurement system is to remain altruistic, not only is cost per procured organ an issue but more equitable sharing of costs would seem in order....