IV Fluid Shortage: Hospital Group Asks Federal Government to Declare National Emergency

Bottles of fluid used for intravenous therapy in the emergency room of a hospital in Marseille, France, on Jan. 11, 2017. Boris Horvat/AFP via Getty Images

The American Hospital Association (AHA) is urging the federal government to declare a national emergency, warning that patient safety is at risk due to a shortage of IV solutions after Hurricane Helene disrupted supplies.

Baxter International, the largest manufacturer of certain intravenous (IV) solutions in the United States, shut down its North Cove manufacturing plant in North Carolina recently after being impacted by Hurricane Helene. This has disrupted the supply of IV fluids to hospitals.

“As a result, our members are already reporting substantial shortages of these lifesaving and life-supporting products,” the AHA said in an Oct. 7 letter to President Joe Biden.

The group represents almost 5,000 member hospitals, 43,000 individual members, and other health care organizations.

“Patients across America are already feeling this impact, which will only deepen in the coming days and weeks unless much more is done to alleviate the situation and minimize the impact on patient care,” the letter reads.

The association asked the federal government to declare a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act.

The AHA said that the North Cove plant produces roughly 1.5 million bags of IV solutions per day, accounting for about 60 percent of America’s supply. With manufacturing disrupted, Baxter and other suppliers of IV solutions have instituted buying limits and are not accepting new customers, the group stated.

“AHA strongly urges the Administration to take immediate actions to increase the supply of IV solutions for the nation’s hospitals, health systems and other health care providers that are already struggling to provide care,” it said.

The organization asked the president to direct the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow hospitals and health systems to prepare sterile IV solutions in their pharmacies.

The FDA should identify international manufacturers capable of producing IV fluids, it stated. The agency should also extend the shelf-life of all IV solutions that are “beyond or nearing their expiration date,” it said.

The AHA asked the federal government to invoke the Defense Production Act to ensure that manufacturers are encouraged to accept contracts for materials required to produce IV solutions.

Such manufacturers should be incentivized to expand the production and supply of critical materials, it stated.

The Epoch Times reached out to the White House for comment but didn’t receive a reply by publication time.

Due to the ongoing IV fluid supply disruptions, some surgeries are being suspended.

Michelle Rathman, the founder of Impact Communications, a company specializing in health care strategy and communications, said the company was working with its “Critical Access Hospital clients to help them inform their communities about suspending elective procedures until further notice,” according to an Oct. 8 social media post.

Tackling Supply Disruption

Last week, Baxter said that Hurricane Helene destroyed the bridges to the firm’s site and that remediation measures were being implemented to resolve the matter. The company said it didn’t yet have a timeline for when operations would be back up and running.

In an Oct. 7 update, Baxter said it had made “steady progress” in its remediation measures. A temporary bridge has been installed to support transport to and from the site. No structural damage to the facility has been identified. The site now has access to electrical power.

“We expect to begin communicating anticipated production plans within the next two weeks,” Baxter stated. “We have resumed shipments to hospitals and dialysis patients after the temporary hold last week, based on allocations as previously communicated. We have moved finished goods from our North Cove site that were not impacted by the storm and are inspecting other finished goods onsite. This inventory will be used to support current allocations in the short term.”

Several of Baxter’s international plants are ramping up production in an attempt to meet the demand in the United States. The firm expects to receive supplies from these facilities throughout October.

Within the next two weeks, Baxter plans to adjust the buying limits for customers based on inbound shipments.

Health care performance improvement company Vizient, which serves more than 65 percent of America’s acute care providers, published a conservation guide to deal with IV fluid disruptions. The recommendations are aimed at helping preserve existing inventories while ensuring safe patient care.

“IV fluids are a foundational component of basic medication preparation and compounding for hundreds of drugs. Immediately implementing conservation strategies will be important to help minimize supply disruptions as the supply chain works to recover,” said Mittal Sutaria, Vizient’s senior vice president of pharmacy contract and program services.