Two days after WellPoint, Inc. released fourth-quarter and full-year 2011 financial results that fell short of analysts’ expectations, the managed care company today announced an initiative aimed at increasing investments in primary care, promoting quality, and helping reduce future costs.

Each year, >17 million red-cell units are collected in the United States, and 15 million units are transfused. The elderly and surgical patients are most often the recipients of blood transfusions, yet, according to researchers, the indications for postoperative transfusion have not been adequately studied. One study did demonstrate that among adults in intensive care units, there was a nonsignificant decrease in 30-day mortality with a restrictive transfusion strategy compared with a liberal strategy (18.7% vs 23.3%).