The role of daclizumab in balancing resources for inpatient and outpatient transplant services.

Transplant professionals have the dual responsibility of achieving acceptable clinical outcomes and controlling costs. One approach transplant centers have used to control transplant-related costs has been to decrease patients' length of stay, and thus it has decreased significantly in the last 6 years. This reduction in resource consumption has been accomplished by increased efficiency in providing transplantation services, expanding the number of outpatient services available, and integrating new technologies. Future cost containment measures by payers, especially Medicare, will continue to require that transplant centers manage resources and meet financial objectives while achieving acceptable clinical outcomes. Daclizumab, a new immunosuppressive drug, is used as an example in this article, which assesses its value in helping meet resource management and financial goals.