摘要：Red blood cell (RBC) transfusions can alleviate symptoms like fatigue, dyspnea, and cardiac problems. This research aims at identifying, measuring, and valuing health care resources and activities needed to provide RBC transfusions in Italy. An empirical, retrospective cost description of the RBC transfusion process was per- formed following the viewpoint of a large Italian Local Health Authority based in Flor- ence, Italy. Activity based costing (ABC) and traditional cost (direct costs plus a share of indirect costs) methods were applied. The RBC transfusion process was divided into 3 episodes (donation, processing, and transfusion) and 13 activities. Costs (in € 2008) were grouped in 5 categories (labor, disposables, lab tests, equipment, other costs). Costs for managing transfusion-related risks were not considered. The full cost for RBC transfusions is € 482.1 (donation: € 113.6; processing € 233.3; transfu- sion € 135.2) and € 346.9 for RBC units. ABC highlights that the most and the least expen- sive activities are quality assessment (€ 191.9) and waste management (€ 0.3). Labor is the most relevant cost item of the full cost for RBC transfusion. Pharmacologic research aiming at increasing the number of RBC transfusion-free pa- tients should take into account, together with other parameters, also the real RBC trans- fusion costs
