Financial Considerations Heart Transplant Surgery

Financial Considerations

Cost of Transplantation

Transplantation is a covered expense for most insurance companies. The costs of transplantation vary on a case-to-case basis and negotiated with the individual insurance carriers by the transplant financial counselor. One of the biggest costs is the length of time you spend in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The ICU is a hospital unit that has specially trained nurses and special equipment to monitor and maintain you immediately after your transplant. The length of time you spend in the ICU will depend on how sick you were before surgery and how quickly you recover after surgery.

Expenses covered by insurance carriers include, but are not limited to:

• Fees for your evaluation
• Surgeon and operating room fees
• Anesthesia costs
• Length of stay in the hospital
• Blood and other diagnostic testing
• Organ recover costs
• Rehabilitation costs such as physical or occupation therapy
• Cost of the medications

Possible expenses to the recipient and family include, but are not limited to:

• Patient and family transportation costs to and from USC University Hospital for evaluation, surgery, and clinic visits after transplant
• Housing, food, and living expenses if you and your family will need to relocate to the Los Angeles area for transplant

The transplant team realizes that these costs will seem overwhelming to you. Do not lose hope. We discourage skipping clinic visits, blood tests, or biopsies in order to save money since these are all vital to your recovery and long term survival. There are many funding alternatives that can be explored including private funds, insurance, government funding, fund raising campaigns, and charitable organizations. The financial counselor will work with you to sort out any financial concerns you or your family may have.

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Source: USC Cardiothoracic Surgery

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