DRGs Underpay for Stem Cell Therapy

SAN ANTONIO--Although the literature suggests that peripheral blood stem cell support for hematologic salvage after high-dose chemotherapy is somewhat less expensive than autologous bone marrow transplant (ABMT), the difference is nowhere near the $80,000 disparity found in diagnostic-related group (DRG)-based reimbursement, Philip Bierman, MD, said at a lymphoma symposium sponsored by the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.