THE COSTS OF DOMICILIARY MAINTENANCE HEMODIALYSIS A COMPARISON WITH ALTERNATIVE RENAL REPLACEMENT REGIMENS

Abstract

The cost of establishing a patient on hemodialysis in his own home and of maintaining treatment there has been calculated from the records of a dialysis unit devoted entirely to domiciliary treatment. Provision of equipment, training for self‐supervised dialysis and home alterations cost $5,000 per patient for hollow fibre dialysis and $6,000 per patient for Kiil diaylsis. Running expenses of home dialysis have been $3,800 per patient per year for hollow fibre dialysis and $2,600 for Kiil dialysis. The cost of in‐patient maintenance dialysis was $7,400 per patient per year, and the cost of obtaining a cadaveric renal allograft was $8,900 when pretransplantation hospital dialysis, operation fees, and postoperative in‐patient care were included.