LCD/NCD Portal

NCD110.16

 

NONSELECTIVE (RANDOM) TRANSFUSIONS AND LIVING RELATED DONOR SPECIFIC TRANSFUSIONS (DST) IN KIDNEY TRANSPLANTATION

 

Effective Date of this Version

12/1/1983

 

Benefit Category

• Inpatient Hospital Services.

• Note: This may not be an exhaustive list of all applicable Medicare benefit categories for this item or service.

 

Item/Service Description

• Transplant surgeons have established a definite correlation in both cadaver and living-related kidney transplantation between pretransplant transfusions of blood into the recipient and the success of graft retention.

 

Indications and Limitations of Coverage

• These pretransplant transfusions are covered under Medicare without a specific limitation on the number of transfusions, subject to the normal Medicare blood deductible provisions.

• Where blood is given directly to the transplant patient; e.g., in the case of donor specific transfusions, the blood is considered replaced for purposes of the blood deductible provisions.

 

Cross Reference

• See the Medicare General Information, Eligibility, and Entitlement Manual, Chapter 3, §20.5.4.

 

Medicare NCD Link