New blood inventory management system will help track usage in patients

Hospitals will be able to carefully track their use of blood products in patients, manage their inventory and compare blood use protocols against best practices through a new inventory management system being made available to the 75 independent blood centers that are members of America's Blood Centers.

“At the same time, hospitals today are examining every line item in their budgets, and will welcome the cost savings that have been projected through the use of AIM, as experienced in Europe.”

Appropriate Inventory Management (AIM) tracks blood utilization and provides patient outcome analyses through vein-to-vein monitoring of the blood products by both the hospital and the blood center. The software system was piloted by 16 America's Blood Centers' members in more than 340 U.S. hospitals and is based on European systems that have seen significant reductions in the number of units of blood used by hospitals.

AIM has the first and only national database of information that will allow blood centers to provide hospitals with individualized laboratory, donor and patient data; as well as local, regional and national data for benchmarking against best practices. Hospitals will be able to better manage their blood inventory and reduce waste, as well as comply with new standards mandated by the Joint Commission. AIM is made available to hospitals only through participating America's Blood Centers' members.

"The overriding benefit to hospitals will be having data that identifies the transfusion protocols that result in the best outcomes in patients, which is what we all strive for," said America's Blood Centers' Chief Executive Officer Jim MacPherson. "At the same time, hospitals today are examining every line item in their budgets, and will welcome the cost savings that have been projected through the use of AIM, as experienced in Europe."

"Our very early experience with AIM would indicate the reductions seen in Europe can be accomplished here," said Dr. Patricia Fenderson, Medical Director for Texas Health Harris Methodist Fort Worth. "We all benefit when we have the information that guides best practices. However, the ultimate beneficiary here is the patient."

AIM provides information on the availability of specific blood products, the inventory the hospital is carrying, unused or outdated units, and monitors the appropriateness of a blood transfusion. Outcomes and adverse events associated with the use of the various blood products are tracked. For example, the system can automatically monitor for transfusion associated infections or patient reactions.

Information for obtaining the AIM system is available through America's Blood Centers' members.