ABSTRACT
Organ transplantation is a costly technology that benefits a relatively small number of people. This chapter discusses the financing aspects of transplantation decisions and fit the technology into the larger picture of resource allocation in health care. Kidney transplantation is a well-established procedure and dialysis is available as a backup treatment, estimates of the need for kidneys might be expected to vary less. Some transplant costs merely replace costs that would have been incurred during the patient's terminal illness, in the absence of a transplant. In the case of heart and liver transplant estimates, omissions of transplant-related costs probably more than offset omissions of cost savings in standard treatment. Society's ability to respond to the need for organ transplantation is constrained by the availability of suitable organs. With all the uncertainty inherent in the estimates of need, cost per transplant, and organ supply, estimates of the total cost of artificial organ technology can be little more than guesses.
