*Purpose: Relative to their representation on the waitlist, Hispanics/Latinos received significantly fewer LDKTs than non-Hispanic Whites in 2018: 5.0% versus 12.2%. In 2006, Northwestern Medicine (NM) implemented a culturally targeted and linguistically congruent Hispanic Kidney Transplant Program (HKTP). Subsequently, the HKTP has been associated with a reduction in Hispanic/Latino disparities in live donor kidney transplantation at NM. This paper assessed the financial feasibility of implementing the HKTP intervention at two other transplant centers as part of an NIH-funded R01 study.

*Methods: We examined the impact of the HKTP on staffing costs compared to the total center costs using data collected from time studies among the transplant staff involved in the HKTP. Monthly time studies were conducted at each transplant center during the HKTP pre-implementation (2016) and implementation (2017) phases. Labor costs were estimated from mean salaries of each center’s closest geographical city as reported by the US Department of Labor. We retrospectively examined kidney acquisition and transplant costs during patients’ hospital stay at both centers in years 2016 and 2017 using data from the Medicare Cost Reports provided by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Since the costs of ancillary services were shared across each hospital system, ancillary cost estimates were not included.

*Results: During pre-implementation, Center A staff (n=21) committed 764 hours ($44,607), and Center B staff (n=15) committed 800 hours ($45,193) to establishing the HKTP. During implementation, Center A staff (n=19) committed 1,125 hours ($55,594), and Center B staff (n=24) committed 1,936 hours ($64,170). Overall, the total costs from the time investment by the staff involved in the HKTP comprised less than 1.0% per year (2016 and 2017) of each center’s annual total costs.

*Conclusions: Our findings suggest the financial feasibility of implementing the HKTP, and presents a potential business case for the HKTP’s implementation at other transplant centers for reducing health disparities in live donor kidney transplantation. HKTP-related costs may be covered by transplant center organ acquisition costs.

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