A Primer on Health Economics

Health economics, and especially economic evaluation, is becoming increasingly relevant in transfusion medicine. Economists think about how to allocate a limited set of resources given some consumer demand. Costs within the field of transfusion medicine have followed these trends, due in part to increased demand for transfusion services, increased utilisation of risk-reduction methods to improve blood supply safety and the implementation of new technologies in donation and transfusion. Blood transfusion costs may seem negligible when considering the overall cost of healthcare - transfusion represents just 1% or less of total costs for most conditions. Using an economic lens to understand issues in transfusion medicine can have important implications for policy design and, ultimately, for patient care.