Over 86% of surveyed health care providers are short on IV fluids

More than 86 percent of healthcare providers surveyed across the US are experiencing shortages of intravenous fluids after Hurricane Helene's rampage took out a manufacturing plant in western North Carolina that makes 60 percent of the country's supply. IV fluids are used for everything from intravenous rehydration to drug delivery. The plant also made peritoneal dialysis fluids used to treat kidney failure. Premier, a group purchasing organization for medical supplies that counts thousands of hospitals and health systems among its members, surveyed 257 such providers earlier this week. The poll makes clear that supplies are unsurprisingly imperiled. In the poll, 88 percent of providers said they were receiving less than half of their requested orders, and about 54 percent said their supplies were down to 10 days or less, which is below the typical on-hand supply of 15 to 22 days. Most strikingly, nearly 17 percent said they had already begun postponing elective surgeries and other procedures. And 78 percent said they would be forced to do the same if the current situation persists over the next month. The owner of the North Carolina plant, Baxter, is boosting production at its other global manufacturing sites and has inbound products and air shipments in the works, the company said in an announcement Wednesday. Given the incoming supplies, the company said it could increase allocation levels set immediately after the hurricane for its highest-demand IV fluids set. The increases will move allocations for direct customers from 40 percent to 60 percent and, for distributors, from 10 percent to 60 percent. Baxter hopes to reopen the plant in stages, reaching 90 percent to 100 percent production of some products by the end of the year.

Trucks and Gatorade

Federal officials, meanwhile, are working with Baxter to help support increasing supplies, setting up temporary imports, and expediting consideration of any shelf-life extension requests. In a letter earlier this week, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told health care leaders that the department is "working tirelessly to mitigate the sterile solutions supply chain disruptions" and, beyond the current crisis, is also working to diversify the supply chain so it is less reliant on a single plant. For now, though, "HHS is encouraging all providers and health systems, regardless of whether they have experienced a disruption in their supply, to take measures to conserve these critical products," the letter read. Some hospitals have already reported giving patients Gatorade and Pedialyte to conserve IV fluid supplies. In one bright spot in the current disruptions, fears that Hurricane Milton would disrupt another IV fluid manufacturing plant in Florida were not realized this week. B. Braun Medical’s manufacturing site in Daytona Beach was not seriously impacted by the storm, the company announced, and production resumed normally Friday. Prior to the storm, with the help of the federal government, B. Braun reportedly moved more than 60 truckloads of IV fluid inventory north of Florida for safekeeping. That inventory will be returned to the Daytona facility, according to reporting by the Associated Press.