THE TRANSFUSION SERVICE IS AN INTEGRAL AND IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF THEHOSPITAL AND SHOULD NOT BE OUTSOURCED

Hospitals are under increased pressure to decrease operating costs. Ho spital-based laboratories, blood banks (transfusion services), increas ingly face the potential of being outsourced as hospitals try to survi ve the current waves of managed care. A number of complicated and uniq ue services are provided by the hospital-based transfusion service and physician. Clinical consultation, complicated immunohematological pro cedures, apheresis, participation in a complex array of patient-care s ervices, clinical research, ever increasing regulatory issues, and qua lity assurance activities are only a few of the challenges in today's transfusion medicine environment. This paper will focus on the hospita l-based transfusion service, and the transfusion medicine physician, a nd present arguments as to why this service should remain close to the patient's bedside and not be outsourced. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Lt d.