Cost of Maintenance Dialysis Vs. Transplantation

New studies and medical breakthroughs offer convincing evidence from many medical authorities and patients that kidney transplants, rather than long-term maintenance dialysis, holds the key to more cost-effective management of end-stage kidney failure.

Significance

• A 1998 study conducted by the University of Maryland indicated that the cost of a kidney transplant is equal to that of two and one-half years of dialysis treatment. “We found that the break even point was 2.7 years for all of the cases we analyzed,” said Dr. Eugene J. Schweitzer, a transplant surgeon at the University Of Maryland Medical Center.

Transplant Cost

• The same institution reports the average first year cost of transplantation, including surgery and ongoing follow up, to be $89,939 with annual expenses falling to $16,043 after the first year.

Dialysis Cost

• The American Association of Kidney Patients estimates the annual cost of maintenance dialysis treatment to hover in excess of $30,000.

Peritoneal vs. Hemodialysis

• A 2009 study published in the American Journal of Managed Care suggests that individuals undergoing peritoneal dialysis rather than hemodialysis experienced significantly lower overall expense, primarily due to a larger number of hemodialysis patients requiring in-patient hospital care.

Effects

• The drop in price for kidney transplants owes much to the development of better technology and medications that allow shorter hospital stays and more effective and cheaper, oral anti-rejection prescriptions.