Transcripts

"Bill of Health"-The Blood Shortage Is Hemorrhaging

SUZANNE PRATT: A supply of the proper blood is absolutely critical for accidents, surgeries and many other hospital procedures. Yet, health authorities say blood shortages are becoming the rule, rather than the exception. That's partly because of the nation's changing demographics. As Jeff Yastine reports in his latest bill of health, keeping up with the surging demand for blood is adding to overall healthcare costs.

JEFF YASTINE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Every day, this Orlando-area blood center sees dozens of civic-minded folks who come in to donate blood. Yet in a fast-growing area like this, the amount of blood collected across the entire region typically amounts to just a three-day supply for the region's many hospitals and paramedic units. Those limited blood supplies and recurring shortages are becoming commonplace at blood banks around the country. Blood collecting organizations say one of the key challenges they face is generational. Surveys show that baby boomers and those older, make more of a habit of donating blood, while younger generations donate blood a lot less frequently. The result is a national blood supply that's stretched as never before. Experts like Anne Chinoda, CEO of Florida's blood centers, say it's a growing problem, especially as the nation's boomer and pre-boomer seniors require larger numbers of medical procedures, adding even more demand to a blood collecting system straining to find new donors.

ANNE CHINODA, PRES. & CEO, FLORIDA'S BLOOD CENTERS: All of our statistics basically show that the traditionalists, the World War II veterans, their frequency, the amount that they donate over time is by far the highest interval and they donated anywhere between three to four times a year. And as we go through the generations, from the traditionalists to the baby boomers, to the X'ers to the Y'ers to the millennias, every generation has gone down in the amount of times that they give and the frequency in which they give.

YASTINE: Red Cross executives like Dr. Richard Benjamin say hospitals in the U.S. are getting their critical blood supplies, but seasonal blood shortages appear to be more frequent, as the nation's demographics change.

DR. RICHARD BENJAMIN, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, AMERICAN RED CROSS: That's the anecdotal experience. It's very difficult to measure actual numbers, but that's what we see. We see more hospitals complaining of shortages and there are more times when we're having to cut our deliveries to hospitals, because we simply don't have enough of a reserve in the blood centers.

YASTINE: So blood collection centers have stepped up efforts to recruit younger donors. Marketing campaigns and the use of enticements like gift cards, are now commonplace, but those marketing efforts have a price. A unit of blood cost roughly $40 in the mid-1980s and it now carries a cost of more than $150. While most of that is due to additional testing measures, executives say marketing costs now take an increasingly larger share of collection center budgets.

CHINODA: The costs for me to go out, bring first time donors come in, educational programs, incentives to get people to come in and try it for a first time and then the conversion costs to try to get them to stay in the system once they've made that commitment.

YASTINE: Those costs are passed onto hospitals, which must pay for the blood they use. For now, blood centers hope public service ads like this will also help persuade younger generations to make a habit out of giving blood and relieve the strain on the nation's blood supply. Jeff Yastine, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, bill of health.