Initiation of an eligibility screening protocol prior to tissue typing of potential stem cell donors resulted in substantial cost savings.

e19047 Background: Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) typing is a necessary but expensive process to identify suitable donors for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for the treatment of bone marrow disorders and hematologic malignancies. The likelihood of a patient and sibling being fully HLA matched is 25%. An HLA-identical related donor remains the preferred source among HCT recipients due to superior outcomes when compared to unrelated, mismatched, haploidentical, or cord blood. Because of the high probability of finding an HLA matched donor among siblings, and the benefit of quick access to these donors, it had been standard procedure at our institute to test all siblings to identify potential matches. The estimated costs of HLA typing alone is approximately $300-$1000 and is contingent upon the lab utilized and resolution of typing. The costs of HLA typing, additional testing, and screening are significant to patients and health care systems. Methods: Our institution initiated a protocol to assess potential sibling donors prior to HLA typing as per the donor eligibility guidelines of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). From 2018-2020 each sibling was given a questionnaire prior to HLA typing and screened for suitability. If a sibling was determined to be ineligible for donation based on the NMDP guidelines, HLA typing and work up for that sibling was not pursued. Results: Between 2018 and 2020 we identified 789 potential donors for HCT. All potential donors were sent eligibility questionnaires. Based on this screening, 568 potential donors were found to be eligible for donation whereas 221 were ineligible. HLA typing was pursued in all eligible donors. This resulted in and estimated cost savings of $66,000-$221,000 in HLA typing alone. This translated into a substantial health care cost savings for our institution as compared to our prior policy of typing all siblings. Conclusions: Identification and work up for potential HLA matched siblings is critical for identifying optimal donors for HCT. Our previous policy of universal sibling screening was found to be costly due to typing individuals who later were found to be ineligible to donate. We found that the initiation of a simple donor screening protocol that excluded ineligible sibling donors resulted in significant cost savings compared to our prior policy of HLA typing all potential sibling donors. Cost savings are a relevant consideration in all aspects of healthcare and this screening tool could be a practical component of the best practice guidelines for HLA matching and HCT.