Published on Monday, May 8, 2023 in Blog
Does ImpactLife charge hospitals for blood components?
Do hospitals charge patients when they receive a blood transfusion?
It’s not uncommon for volunteer blood donors, news media, and other interested parties to ask questions of ImpactLife about the service fees we assess to hospitals. We are pleased to provide the following information on blood providers work with hospitals to ensure blood components are always available for patient transfusions.
ImpactLife is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization and does not receive funding from local, State or Federal taxes. Blood providers incur significant costs to supply an FDA-approved drug through processes that meet regulatory requirements and quality parameters that are in place to protect the safety of the blood supply. To meet those expenses, blood center operating costs are funded by the hospitals we serve. Hospital service fees help blood providers recoup the costs we incur to collect and process donations, conduct post-donation testing, and deliver blood components to hospitals. Our expenses include (for example):
- professional staff (wages, benefits, and ongoing training);
- blood bags, needles, and tubing;
- donor promotions and post-donation refreshments;
- vehicles and facilities;
- blood testing equipment, chemical reagents, and other supplies;
- regulatory compliance, record keeping, and Quality Assurance programs
We greatly our appreciate donors for stepping forward to give blood as volunteers. While donations are given without direct compensation to the donor, we use the ImpactLife Donor Rewards and our donor promotions programs to express our appreciation. (For information on current promotions, see www.bloodcenter.org/promotions.) These practices are consistent with revenue and donor recruitment models practiced by not-for-profit community blood providers across the United States.