by Edward P. Scott, MD
Volume 2, Issue 4 (July/August 2003)
Within the United States, greater than 90% of the available transfusible blood products are collected, processed, and distributed by regional blood centers. The remaining blood products are collected by hospital-based blood banks and are usually provided only to patients in the collecting facility. The “region” in which a blood center offers services (i.e., collecting blood from volunteer donors and providing blood components to healthcare facilities), is usually an arbitrarily and independently defined group of contiguous counties surrounding a major metropolitan area. However, the borders of the region can be elastic and easily altered by gaining or losing access to donor groups or customers. It is not uncommon for a geographic area to be simultaneously “claimed” by neighboring competing blood centers. America’s Blood Centers (ABC) is a not-for-profit trade organization that provides services and advocacy for independent not-for-profit regional blood centers. ABC’s seventy-five members collect approximately 45% of the country’s blood products…
Citation:
Scott EP. Cell and Tissue Bioprocessing: Opportunities for Regional Blood Centers. BioProcess J, 2003; 2(4): 33-38.