National Hemovigilance Pilot Program Launches to Track Adverse Events Associated...

National Hemovigilance Pilot Program Launches to Track Adverse Events
Associated with Blood Transfusion

Goal is to Enhance Patient Safety and Reduce Health Care Costs

BETHESDA, Md., May 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Beginning today, nine
hospitals will join in a pilot program, contributing data on adverse events
associated with blood transfusions. By analyzing the data collected, it will
be possible to identify best practices that can be implemented to
significantly improve patient safety while reducing overall costs to the
health care system.

This pilot hemovigilance program is one of four components comprising the U.S.
Biovigilance Network. The U.S. Biovigilance Network is the first and only
national collaboration between government and nongovernment agencies designed
to confidentially track adverse reactions and incidents associated with blood
collection and transfusion as well as tissue, organ and cell therapy
transplantation. The Hemovigilance Module - focusing specifically on patients
who receive blood and blood components -- is being developed within the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Healthcare Safety
Network (NHSN), a patient safety surveillance system operated by the CDC's
Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion.

"The U.S. is the only developed country that does not have an established
method to track and monitor adverse events associated with blood transfusion
on a national level," said AABB CEO Karen Shoos Lipton, JD. "We are pleased
to be partnering with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CDC
and other private organizations to provide a forum that will enable us as a
community to evaluate therapeutic protocols and make best practice
recommendations to improve patient safety and reduce health care costs."

Though the U.S. blood supply is as safe as it has ever been, this country
lacks a coordinated national network to track and monitor adverse events
associated with the transfusion of blood and blood components. Fully reliable
data about the relative risks of transfusion do not exist, particularly
concerning life-threatening noninfectious hazards of transfusion such as
transfusion of the wrong unit of blood into a patient and transfusion-related
acute lung injury, or TRALI.

TRALI is just one of many examples of how mitigating the current adverse
events associated with transfusions would produce large health care savings
nationally and, most importantly, enhance patient safety. For patients at risk
for TRALI, data collected and compiled from the Hemovigilance Module could
lead to the development of new treatment protocols. In addition to improved
care, an estimated $40 million or more could be saved by eliminating the need
for further diagnostic patient assessments (including x-rays), respiratory
treatment and extended hospital stays.

"The Hemovigilance Module in NHSN is an important step forward for blood
safety in the United States," said Matthew J. Kuehnert, MD, FACP, director of
the CDC's Office of Blood, Organ, and other Tissue Safety. "This unique
collaborative effort between federal government and the private sector has
great potential to be a critical building block for a national biovigilance
program, which has as a common goal to improve patient safety and donor
health."

For more information about the U.S. Biovigilance Network and the NHSN, please
visit www.aabb.org/biovigilance and www.cdc.gov/nhsn/.

About AABB
Established in 1947, AABB (formerly known as the American Association of Blood
Banks) is an international, not-for-profit association dedicated to the
advancement of science and the practice of transfusion medicine and related
biological therapies. The association is committed to improving health by
developing and delivering standards, accreditation and educational programs
and services to optimize patient and donor care and safety. AABB membership
consists of approximately 1,800 institutions and 8,000 individuals, including
physicians, scientists, administrators, medical technologists, nurses,
researchers, blood donor recruiters and public relations personnel. Members
are located in all 50 states and 80 countries.

SOURCE AABB

Jennifer Garfinkel of AABB, +1-301-215-6526, publicrelations@aabb.org