In a recent interview for Fox News,
Martin Smithmyer, CEO of
Americord Registry, one of the industry’s leading
cord blood banking companies, said, “Although [Americord] does not pay doctors for making referrals, this is a common practice among some of our competitors, including at least 3 of the top 6 cord blood banks.”
The Obama administration, in January 2012, made it clear that under the new health care law it will require certain healthcare companies to disclose payments they make to doctors – sometimes amounting to hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars – for research, consulting, speaking, travel and entertainment. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), recommends doctors disclose such payments and arrangements to patients.
Furthermore, according to Smithmyer, cord blood has certain limitations that parents should know about before they decide to bank their child’s cord blood, since the cost of cord blood banking is not an insignificant consideration when making this decision. “Although in this field the technology is always changing, the number of stem cells in one unit of cord blood today is only sufficient to treat a child up to about 10 years old,” said Smithmyer. Americord Registry is developing a new technology that will collect up to 10 times more stem cells. This would be enough to use therapeutically for an adult.
SOURCE Americord Registry