Can blood donation certificates from other provinces be exempted from local blood fees? Media: Can the cross-provincial blockage of blood donation certificates be cleared?

When unpaid blood donors and their spouses and immediate family members need blood for clinical needs, they can be exempted from paying or reducing fees in accordance with relevant regulations. However, in reality, some blood donors and their family members use blood in other places, have their blood fees reimbursed, and apply for relevant commendations. etc., there is the problem of "inter-provincial" obstruction.

"When I went to university in Beijing, I participated in 9 unpaid blood donations, with a total of 3200ml. After I returned to my hometown to work, when my family members fell ill and were hospitalized and needed blood, I was told that blood donation certificates from other provinces could not reduce the cost of blood locally." Recently, Xiaohan from Hebei reported to The reporter described the situation he had encountered.

According to the relevant provisions of the "Blood Donation Law of the People's Republic of China", when citizens use blood for clinical use, they only pay the fees for blood collection, storage, separation, testing, etc. Unpaid blood donors are exempt from paying these fees when they need blood for clinical use; when spouses and immediate relatives of unpaid blood donors need blood for clinical use, they may be exempted from or reduce the fees specified in the preceding paragraph in accordance with the regulations of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government.

However, the reporter learned during the interview that in reality, some unpaid blood donors face problems such as the inability to reimburse blood costs across provinces and the non-recognition of blood donation certificates in different places.

In March 2024, Mr. Lei from Shaanxi also encountered troubles similar to Xiaohan. He went to college in Nanchang, Jiangxi, and later worked in Xi'an. From his freshman year to now, he has donated a total of 5,200ml of blood.

According to the "National Recognition and Reward Measures for Voluntary Blood Donation", Mr. Lei could have received the Bronze Award for Voluntary Blood Donation for his cumulative blood donation. "But after many inquiries, the blood station said that they could not apply for the award because my blood donation location is not uniform, and the blood volume statistics between blood stations in various provinces are independent."

In accordance with local requirements, Mr. Lei only donated blood three times in Xi'an, totaling 1,200ml, which did not meet the 4,000ml requirement. Therefore, Mr. Lei suggested on a website’s “Leadership Message Board”: “I hope that the database of blood donation stations can be interconnected across the country.”

Since the implementation of the Blood Donation Law in 1998, my country has comprehensively established a voluntary and unpaid blood donation system. In 2015, the former National Health and Family Planning Commission, the Red Cross Society of China and other four departments issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening Blood Management Work" and pointed out that a national unified guidance and provincial unified blood management information system should be established to achieve regional blood stations, Medical institutions and blood donor information are networked. The opinion also pointed out that blood dispensing work should be carried out in a standardized manner and an inter-provincial blood supply linkage mechanism should be established in accordance with the law.

A few days ago, the reporter called the blood centers of many provinces and found out that the data and information areas of most provinces have connected blood stations, medical institutions, and blood donor information. However, whether blood donors and their families use blood in other places, reimburse blood fees in other places, or just apply for relevant commendations like Mr. Lei, there is still the problem of "inter-provincial" obstruction.

In September 2019, the National Health Commission issued a notice requiring direct reduction and exemption of clinical blood costs for voluntary blood donors across regions and the establishment of a unified blood reduction and exemption platform across the province.

In January 2024, the "Notice on Further Improving the Incentives and Rewards for Unpaid Blood Donors" jointly issued by the National Health Commission and six other departments mentioned that we will continue to promote the direct reduction and exemption of blood costs for unpaid blood donors and their relatives when they are discharged from the hospital. At present, 28 provinces have directly exempted and exempted unpaid blood donors and their relatives from blood costs in provincial hospitals.

"Reimbursement of relevant blood expenses needs to be registered and reimbursed at the blood donation place. For blood donations from other provinces, we do not have relevant information and data here and cannot handle it directly." Staff at blood stations in Xi'an Central Blood Station in Shaanxi Province and other blood stations told reporters that cross-provincial blood stations cannot The reimbursement is mainly because the data is not connected to the Internet. "For example, if immediate family members need blood, they can only use the blood first and then settle the bill normally at the hospital. Then, according to the specific requirements of the blood donation place, prepare a reimbursement voucher and return it to the blood donation place for reimbursement."

An industry insider who did not want to be named said that in reality, it is difficult to use blood in different places and reimburse across provinces for various reasons. In addition to the fact that blood donation data and information are not connected across provinces, clinical blood use and blood supply are often in a tight balance, especially when there is seasonal ischemia.

In addition, it involves the issue of inconsistent reimbursement standards. The "Blood Donation Law" stipulates that provincial governments formulate implementation details of the "Blood Donation Law", so the return standards, reimbursement, and exemption standards are different in different places, which increases the obstacles to reimbursement and exemption for cross-provincial blood use.

Wang Peng, an associate researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the fundamental reason is that my country has not yet established a complete blood donation and blood information sharing and off-site blood coordination mechanism. This results in the inability to fully protect the rights and interests of blood donors when blood is used in other places, and also affects the coordination and cooperation between medical institutions and blood stations.

Data from the seventh national census show that in 2020, China's total migrant population reached 376 million, an increase of 69.73% from 2010. Among them, the inter-provincial floating population was 125 million, an increase of 45.37%. Participation in population mobility has increased significantly, and the size of the floating population has further expanded. In this context, it is very necessary to solve the problems of blood use and reimbursement in other places.

The reporter learned that in order to ensure that blood management is more scientific, reasonable and efficient, promote the sharing of hospital blood inventory information with blood stations and health administrative departments, and improve the optimal allocation and quality safety of blood, in accordance with the "National Health Commission Medical Emergency Department" on carrying out medical "Notice on the pilot work of institutional clinical blood information networking", Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Anhui and other places took the lead in conducting networking pilots.

At present, Beijing has realized direct reduction and exemption of blood costs for blood donors and their relatives in medical institutions in Beijing, and has established a unified platform for blood cost reduction and exemption in the city. The whole city can handle it through direct exemption and APP self-service. In addition, staff at the Beijing Red Cross Blood Center told reporters that blood donors who donate blood for free in Beijing, their spouses, and immediate relatives can be exempted from the prescribed clinical blood fees across provinces. For details, please follow the requirements on the "Capital Blood Donation" WeChat official account Upload relevant reimbursement vouchers to perform self-service reimbursement.

In June 2019, Zhejiang's "direct exemption for blood consumption in other places" service was officially launched. Blood donors from any place in the province can directly apply for blood exemption at hospitals that have opened relevant services in the province. In the same year, Shanghai and Jiangsu realized emergency linkage for cross-provincial blood donation, and reimbursement for blood used in other places also began to be piloted.

Wang Peng said that in order to further clear the "cross-provincial" congestion points, first of all, it is necessary to improve the system level. For example, establish a national blood donation and blood information sharing platform to achieve real-time updating and interconnection of blood donor information, blood inventory information, blood demand information and other data. Secondly, promote digital transformation and intelligent upgrading to improve the intelligent level of blood management.

"It is very necessary to establish a normalized emergency blood linkage mechanism." Wang Peng believes that realizing the smooth operation of linkage within the province and outside the province can ensure the rapid mobilization and distribution of blood resources in emergencies, strengthen medical institutions, blood Communication and collaboration between stations can improve treatment efficiency and at the same time help increase people’s enthusiasm for participating in voluntary blood donation.