Transplant costs

Costs

The cost of a transplant varies depending on location, hospital, organ type, insurance coverage and other factors.

If you are researching or preparing for an organ transplant, contact your health insurance provider and your transplant center’s financial coordinator. They can help to determine costs based on your procedure, transplant center’s policies, and individual insurance coverage.

How much will my organ transplant cost?

Below are a few resources which can help you to get an idea of what kind of costs you can expect when undergoing an organ transplant.

Milliman research report – U.S. organ and tissue transplant cost estimates
This most recent report from 2020 is a summary of estimated U.S. average costs per member including billed charges and utilization related to the 30 days prior and 180 days after transplant admission for treatment for organ and tissue transplants. This report also includes all billed charges pre- and post-transplant admission. Please note costs reflected in this report are the final billed charges for an organ transplant procedure. Costs to the individual/out-of-pocket costs will be dependent on individual health insurance coverage.

Medicare
The Official U.S. Government site for Medicare also provides links and resources for Medicare patients receiving an organ transplant. Learn more about Medicare Part B benefit available for kidney recipients.

Covering transplant costs
For more information, details, and links for important insurance-related transplant coverage.

Medical costs checklist

Medical costs include:

• Insurance deductibles
• Insurance co-pays
• Pre-transplant evaluation and testing
• Fees for surgeons, physicians, radiologist, anesthesiologist and lab tests
• Fees for the recovery of the organ from the donor
• Surgery
• Follow-up care and testing
• Additional hospital stays for complications
• Anti-rejection and other drugs, which can easily exceed $2,500 per month
• Rehabilitation

Non-medical costs checklist

When planning for a transplant, it’s also important to take into consideration potential non-medical costs.
Non-medical costs could include:

• Food, lodging and long distance phone calls for you and your family
• Transportation, to and from your transplant center, before and after your transplant
• Plane travel to get to your transplant hospital quickly
• Childcare
• Lost wages if your employer does not pay for the time you or a family member spends away from work
• If your transplant center is not close to your home, lodging close to the center before and after your surgery. Some centers offer free or low-cost hospitality houses for you and your family.

This Web site is intended solely for the purpose of electronically providing the public with general health-related information and convenient access to the data resources. UNOS is not affiliated with any one product nor does UNOS assume responsibility for any error, omissions or other discrepancies.