MGH Blood Bank

Jessica Anderson, Joelle Arnold, Janet Tsai

3 November 2003

Types of Blood Collectors

Not-for-Profit Groups, like the Red Cross and MGH Bloodbank

• Donor dependent• Products: Red Blood Cells (RBC), Plasma, Platelets.

For-Profit Groups• Pay for blood and plasma• Products for pharmaceutical and manufacturing use

(ex. hemoglobulin)

Vampires

• Non-profit Blood collectors in US:• 50% blood collected by the Red Cross

• 45% by smaller, independent organizations similar to the ARC

• 5% by hospital blood banks – MGH Bloodbank

• MGH is different!

Not-for-profit

MGH Bloodbank Structure

• Bloodbank is part of MGH

• MGH is not-for-profit endowed (like Olin)

• MGH gives them an annual budget based on anticipated volume

• Petition for Capital Expenses (ex. Bloodmobile)

• Bloodbank does not have its own strategic plan; fits under MGH

MGH and Harvard

• Separate entities

• MGH trains Harvard Med Students– Education is an Institutional Value– Attracts doctors who enjoy teaching

environment– Willing workforce

• Students• Interns

– Many doctors have dual role• MGH Doctor• Harvard Academic appointment

• Donor Questions

• Highly Regulated Processing• The computer system for tracking donors is a

licensed medical device by the FDA• FDA inspections 2 times annually• American Association of Bloodbanks

• Limited Shelf Lives• RBCs – 42 days• Platelets – 5 days• Plasma – 1 year (frozen)

About Blood and Donating

About Blood and Transfusing

• MGH bills insurance for blood used– $140-$200 per unit RBC– $400-$600 per unit platelets– Insurance

• Per incident (ex. Medicare)• Capitated (HMOs)

• Blood types– 8 types of RBC (A, B, AB, O; +, -)– 4 types of Plasma (A, B, AB, O)– 4 types of Platelets (A, B, AB, O)

• 17000 donations last year

• Demand varies by case– Leukemics get 1-2 units a day– Trauma or liver surgery patients can get 400

units

• When demand exceeds supply– Call Red Cross and other suppliers– Call other hospitals– Call in donors

Supply and Demand

Marketing

• Marketing attracts donors– Does not compete with Red Cross for existing

donors• Removes altruism from the purpose

– Works to find new donors • Drives• Tee shirts, mugs, etc• 3 recruiters with marketing degrees

• Expenses– Labor– Blood purchased from Red Cross

• Half of what’s in stock

– Testing Equipment– Outside Testing

• Samples sent to NYC daily by courier

• Income– Almost entirely from MGH– Private monetary donations accepted

MGH Bloodbank Accounting

MGH Bloodbank and Strategy

• No Official Strategic Plan

• Biggest Goal: Increase the size of the Donor Pool– Saves money for the hospital and patient– Protection for disaster

• Improve testing techniques – More staff education– Improve technology– Increase number of tests (ex. Exotic diseases)

• Volume of blood collected

• Donor satisfaction

• Repeat to new donor ratio

• Currently one of the largest hospital programs in the country

Measures of Success

Areas to Improve

• Update computer system

• Expand number of tests performed at the blood bank

• New technology?

• Even out donations if possible

Questions?