1. Effects of broader geographic distribution of donor lungs on travel mode and estimated costs of organ procurement
- Author
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Melissa Skeans, Erika D. Lease, Maryam Valapour, and Carli J. Lehr
- Subjects
Adult ,Tissue and Organ Procurement ,Waiting Lists ,030230 surgery ,Resource Allocation ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Humans ,Immunology and Allergy ,Medicine ,Pharmacology (medical) ,Economic impact analysis ,Lung ,Service (business) ,Transplantation ,Lung transplants ,business.industry ,Tissue Donors ,United States ,Donor lungs ,Travel time ,Geographic distribution ,Organ procurement ,Travel mode ,business ,Demography - Abstract
On November 24, 2017, US lung transplant policy replaced donor service area with 250-nautical-mile radius as the first unit of allocation. Understanding this policy's economic impact is important, because the United States is poised to adopt the broadest feasible geographic organ distribution. All lung transplant recipients from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2018, in the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, were included. Recipients before and after November 24, 2017 were in the donor service area-first and 250-nautical-mile donor service area-free periods, respectively. Travel time was estimated using a Google application; mode was assigned as flying when driving time was longer than 60 min. Travel costs were estimated by mode and distance. Travel distance and time for organ procurement increased under the policy change. The estimated proportion of organs traveling by air increased from 61% to 76%. Estimated average costs increased by $14 051 if travel mode changed to flying, resulting in an average increase of $1264 for all transplants. Travel costs were highest for candidates
- Published
- 2021