We can work it out (Musings on public vs private health systems)

This blog muses on how transfusion medicine (TM) in the USA compares to the rest of the developed world, particulary Canada, in terms of overall cost, efficiencies, and clinical outcomes.

As a Canadian, monitoring the U.S. debate on health care is frustrating. Particularly annoying is hearing our system regularly trashed on U.S. cable shows, mostly be those who do not have a clue about Canadian health care, and occasionally by Canadian physicians heavily invested in private health care.

• See Canadian health care slurs dismissed as "rhetoric" (CMAJ, 13 Oct. 2009)

Of course, like any system Canada's is not perfect but it provides universal coverage (like the rest of the developed world) and we're trying to improve it.

Nonetheless, to me the lies and distortions south of the border are galling. The blog's title derives from an old Beatles tune that I hope comes true:

• We can work it out

Don't worry - This blog is not going to delve deeply into the U.S. - Canada health care debate, where views tend to be as passionately held as religious convictions.

The idea for the blog came from this journal article & news item (featured in TraQ's November newsletter):

• Schoen C, et al. A survey Of primary care physicians In eleven countries, 2009: perspectives on care, costs, and experiences. Health Affairs 2009;28(6): w1171­w1183.
• U.S. physicians lag behind those in other countries in IT use

The journal paper made me wonder if anyone had similarly researched TM in the USA and Canada, or TM in the USA vs TM in other countries with universal health care and a national blood service in which users do not pay for blood and blood products, i.e., the public pays via taxes and the burden does not fall to those unfortunate enough to get sick and require transfusion.

There have been reports published comparing such aspects between countries as blood donor screening criteria and overall structure and organization. And Vox Sang has international forums (fora for purists), which survey the basics of blood systems around the globe and international practices on just about every type of practice, e.g.,

• Autologous blood salvage
• Clinical indications for various blood components
• Hemovigilance
• Massive transfusion protocols
• Technical topics such as electronic crossmatching, routine Rh typing, hemolytic disease of the newborn serologic analysis

The types of studies I have in mind would compare TM-related costs, efficiencies, and clinical outcomes in various developed countries. Such costs are incredibly difficult to identify with validity. But in countries with national blood services, these figures should be determinable, albeit with many assumptions, provisos, limitations and perhaps even a glut of 'weasel words' as often appear in cost studies due to the many variables involved.
For example, Canadian Blood Services has only three testing facilities and 12 manufacturing facilities to serve all of Canada except Quebec. Canada is the 2nd largest country in the world, just behind Russia and just ahead of the USA in territorial size.
CBS's annual reports include an incredible amount of hard data:

• Report to Canadians (2008 - 2009)

Some tidbits from the report above:

• Whole blood collections: 915,858
• Staff costs constitute ~60% of total 'Transfusable Products' expenses
• Cost per unit* for year ending 31 Mar. 2009: $377.11
• *ratio of total expenses to shipments of all products

A few possible comparisons for international studies:

1. Relative cost of the overall blood system
We know that Canada's health system is less expensive than the U.S. system, because the administrative costs are less when there is a single payer. Indeed, The U.S. spends more per capita on health care than any comparable country. Does this apply to the blood system too?

2. Average cost per RBC transfused
In Canada, CBS and Hema Quebec collect and process all whole blood donations intended for allogeneic transfusion.What does a typical unit of RBC cost to produce in Canada and how does it compare with the same average cost in the USA, UK, Australia, etc.?

3. Utilization management of blood components and blood derivatives according to whatever clinical guidelines exist

For example, do countries with national blood services and government -supported provincial blood offices achieve equivalent or better clinical outcomes and financial savings compared to the USA? See

• BC PBCO
• Transfusion Ontario

ADDITIONAL MUSINGS
In the mid-1990s in Alberta, the Canadian province where I reside, the government decreased financing of the laboratory system by ~40%. Among many results, students in the MLS program where I taught had difficulty finding jobs in Canada. However, because they wrote the ASCP MT exam at the end of their program, many obtained employment in the U.S., including in transfusion service labs.

Canadian grads were amazed at the U.S. system in which an incredible amount of their time was spent on what to bill for various lab tests, something that was not required in Canada. Yet this emphasis on fees and cost did not result in more evidence-based test rationales.
Grads often reported that the U.S. labs they worked in were still routinely performing tests that had been abandoned in Canada in the 70s and 80s, tests that contributed little, if anything, to treatment or clinical outcomes.

Granted, it's a small sample, perhaps the anecdotal reports of a few dozen graduates. But even so, publicly funded TM laboratories in Canada had managed to implement evidence-based test rationalization before many American counterparts.

And government programs such as the BC PBCO have made impressive improvements in utilization management of blood and blood components.

Can a public system of transfusion medicine, and universal health care in general, possibly be equivalent, or even superior to, a private one? We can no doubt work it out, eventually.

Additional Resources
For more on health care comparisons in general, see:

• Comparing medical costs and results
• Sick Around the World - a profile of health care in 5 countries

As always, views are mine alone. Comments are most welcome BUT, due to excessive spam,  please e-mail me personally or use the address in the newsletter notice.