Hospitals have been warned to prepare for an IV fluid shortage as the country continues to grapple with the impacts of Hurricane Helene, officials from Mass General Brigham said Thursday.
The issue stems from damage to a North Carolina facility owned by Baxter International Inc., a company that provides 60% of IV fluids and other medical fluids for the country, according to Dr. Paul Biddinger, chief preparedness and continuity officer at Mass General Brigham.
The Mass General Brigham system has been warned that they will only receive around 40% of their usual allocation for now. There is no immediate timeline on how soon the facility can be repaired and get manufacturing back up and running. Biddinger says there are other suppliers, but Baxter is a major contributor.
Baxter says their facility in North Cove was impacted by the extensive flooding in the area.
"The safety of our employees, their families, and the communities in which we operate remains our utmost concern, and we are committed to helping ensure reliable supply of products to patients. Remediation efforts are already underway, and we will spare no resource -- human or financial -- to resume production and help ensure patients and providers have the products they need," company president, CEO and chair José E. Almeida wrote in a statement on Sept. 29.
The Mass General Brigham system is taking steps to conserve fluids. This means being more selective as to how they use their existing supply and holding off on preparing bags that may not be essential to a patient's treatment. Biddinger stressed that patients who need IV fluids will still receive them and clinical operations are continuing as normal.
"Right now we’re continuing all of our clinical care as we normally do and that’s absolutely our intent," Biddinger said, pointing out that they implemented similar measures when Hurricane Maria hit in 2017 and did not have to change up operations or cancel surgeries.
The system is still modeling exactly what their supply needs are and how long they could sustain normal operations with the reduced supply. Biddinger says IV fluids have a relatively short expiration timeframe, so it's not a product that's easy to stockpile and store for a scenario such as this.
Tufts is among the health care systems impacted. They provided the following statement to NBC10 Boston:
"Tufts Medicine, like many other hospitals and hospital systems across the U.S., is closely monitoring production and distribution issues with certain IV fluids due to the recent hurricane. Our Supply Chain team is being proactive to secure additional product and we continue to maintain safe patient care and meet our patients’ needs."
According to the Boston Globe, the American Hospital Association issued a bulletin to its members nationwide saying that it is working with Baxter and federal agencies to see what can be done to mitigate the effects of the situation.
