Becker's Hospital Review

54 Executive Briefing SPONSORED BY Leading hospitals and community blood centers are joining forces to address the blood supply crisis — Here's how B lood shortages weren't uncommon before the pandemic, but COVID-19 stalled blood donations and escalated the situation into a crisis. Blood shortages can have profound effects on patient care, operations and profitability. The good news is that leading US blood centers are adopting innovative management practices and community- driven solutions to help hospitals deliver better patient care and realize better performance. Becker's Hospital Review recently spoke with two experts on blood supply issues about new and improved ways to manage hospital blood supplies through collaborative and creative actions: To address blood shortages, community partnerships and hospital relationships are crucial Due to shifting supply and demand dynamics, blood shortages in the United States have been an ongoing issue. Even prior to COVID-19, blood utilization was growing due in part to the aging population. Another contributor has been earlier diagnosis of cancer patients. Some chemotherapy treatments require platelets and red blood cells. On the supply side, the demographics of blood donors has shifted over the past decade. "For the past 10 years, the population of donors between 16 and 59 has declined year over year approximately 37 percent," Ms. Sandhu said. "On the flip side, the number of donors aged 60 and older has increased by about 41 percent over the same time period." Decreases in blood donations have also been attributed to the pandemic. Some individuals have been reluctant to visit blood centers due to social distancing concerns. In addition, the shift to remote school and work has had a significant impact on donations. "Schools represent approximately 20 to 25 percent of all blood donations nationwide," Ms. Sandhu said. "With remote learning, schools haven't been accessible to us. In our area, tech companies are also big sponsors of blood donation events. Employees at many of those organizations continue to work remotely or hybrid, so we can't go onsite for mobile collection programs." In response, organizations like Stanford Blood Center and Versiti are seeking innovative ways to engage donors by building on relationships with community leaders, healthcare partners and hospitals. One approach is to shift donors from mobile units to donor centers where it is possible to control social distancing and provide top-notch service. As Mr. Miskel explained, "The pandemic provided us with an opportunity to lean in and strengthen our connections with hospitals. If you take 2019 as a baseline in terms of what we collected with hospitals and compare it to 2020 and 2021, we grew our hospital blood collections by 45 percent." Versiti has found that hospital partnerships work well when there is C-suite sponsorship, a shared mission and space in the hospital facility that is simple and convenient for donors to visit. "When we have a system-level champion, everything really works," he said. "That's where we've driven significant growth in hospital collections." Innovative practices can take blood supply management to the next level When it comes to blood supply management, many leading organizations no longer view blood as a commodity and are instead shifting to a more strategic approach. Versiti's partnership with The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus illustrates this shift well. During the summer of 2019, Versiti became Ohio State's primary blood provider. "Ohio State is keenly aware of being a good steward of the blood supply, particularly during challenging times," Mr. Miskel said. "They manage their inventory very closely and they have very low percentages of waste." Chris Miskel President and CEO, Versiti Harpreet Sandhu CEO, Stanford Blood Center (Palo Alto, Calif.) and Chairperson of Blood Centers of America

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