Transparency in Transfusion Medicine
Blood centers and transfusion services will need to become more transparent in the near future. The United States Biovigilance Network only addresses complications of transfusion and blood donation. Transfusion services will eventually be required to explain the wide geographic variability in transfusion rates for the same diagnostic procedures. They will also need to disclose their transfusion volumes, adverse reactions, number of mistypes, and transfusion cost per unit. Hospital Compare already includes the number of mismatched blood types. Hospitals may eventually be financially rewarded for lowering transfusion rates below a threshold and for improving utilization and patient outcomes. Transfusion has been associated with immunomodulation. It may be possible that transfusion will eventually be linked to hospital-acquired infections. A national database of all transfusions would go a long way in improving the transparency of transfusion medicine.
