What is the difference between a public bank and a private bank?
When you donate cord blood to a public bank, once processed it is immediately part of the Registry and available to any patient in need of a transplant. There is no cost to you to donate your baby’s cord blood to a public bank. When you store your baby’s cord blood in a private cord blood bank, you pay collection and ongoing storage fees and it is reserved for your use only. The BWH Cord Blood Donation Program does not facilitate private cord blood banking.
