How To Choose A Cord Blood Bank
If you decide that banking your newborn’s cord blood is for you then you need to choose the right cord-blood bank for your needs. Make sure to start your cord-blood bank search early on so you have time to consider all your options before having to choose one. Begin by compiling a list of cord-blood banks and then request information from them. Cross check with doctors and other cord-blood bankers to weed out the undesirable cord-blood banks.
The track record of a cord blood facility should be your number one research issue. The longer a cord bank has been in business, the more likely that it is likely to be a good bet. The choice you make is a choice being made not for you, but for your child or future children.
Do not automatically choose a blood bank near you and assume that it is the best bank for you based on that alone. A banks’ center of operations and their storage facility might not even be in the same state. Make sure you place the importance on choosing the bank that fits your needs and isn’t just a matter of location.
Here are a few questions to take into account before you decide on a cord-blood bank.
How stable is the cord-blood bank you’re looking into financially. You need to worry about the chances of having to transfer your cord blood to another bank if the facility it is at closes for any reason.
How big the bank is and how many cord blood units do they process? The reality of the situation is the more business the bank does usually means more staff and better handling procedures.
If you want to change facilities, are you going to be free to or are you going to be locked into a contract? That means you have no transferring options for whatever reason you might need. Even if you just decide that another bank is better for you.
Check the safeguards the bank has in place should something happen and they go out of business. Will they help you transfer it, give you enough time to have it transferred, or will it be lost?
Do extensive research on the yearly fees for maintenance costs and insurance. Make sure you know what you’re getting into and that there are no surprises. Will the fees increase over time? Are they fixed? Do there seem to be any unreasonable charges or attempts to hide pricing?
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