Hospitals are facing IV fluid shortage, and some are postponing surgeries

Hospitals nationwide are dealing with a shortage of IV fluids due to the closure of a key plant in North Carolina due to Hurricane Helene.

Health systems are conserving IV supplies after Baxter International, a medical technology company, has been forced to shut down a plant in Marion, North Carolina that experienced flooding from Helene. The plant is the nation’s leading supplier of intravenous and peritoneal dialysis solutions, according to Healthcare Ready, a nonprofit organization that works to ensure access to care during emergencies.

Now, hospitals are asking the federal government for help to deal with the shortage. Some hospitals are already postponing non-emergency surgeries to conserve IV supplies due to the shortage.

The American Hospital Association sent a letter to President Biden Monday asking the government to take steps to obtain more supplies and approve other measures to help health systems.

Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, wrote in the letter that the Baxter plant produces about 60% of the IV solutions used every day in the United States, or about 1.5 million bags. Baxter and other suppliers of IV solutions have put strict limits on orders from health systems and are not accepting new customers, Pollack wrote.

“As a result, our members are already reporting substantial shortages of these lifesaving and life-supporting products,” Pollack wrote in the letter. “Patients across America are already feeling this impact, which will only deepen in the coming days and weeks unless much more is done to alleviate the situation and minimize the impact on patient care.”

Baxter has said it is communicating with customers and is trying to boost production of IV solutions at the company’s other facilities.

In an Oct. 3 update, Baxter said that it’s unclear when the North Carolina plant will be able to resume operations.

“We are working with the greatest urgency, but we do not yet have a timeline for when operations will be back up and running,” the company said.

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Postponing procedures

Some health systems are delaying some elective surgeries to conserve their supplies of IV solutions. The American Hospital Association says some of its members are postponing procedures.

UVA Health in Virginia is among the health systems taking that step. UVA Health University Medical Center is postponing some non-urgent surgeries this week to help conserve supplies and minimize disruptions to patient care. UVA Health’s hospitals in Culpeper, Haymarket and Manassas are also rescheduling some surgeries.

“We are grateful for our patients’ patience and understanding as we do our part to work through these shortages,” Josh Barney, a spokesman at UVA Health, said in a statement. “We’re doing our very best to ensure that all our patients continue to receive the best care possible.”

In Minnesota, Allina Health and M Health Fairview are also delaying some surgeries to conserve supplies, according to FOX 9 (KMSP-TV) in Minneapolis.

Enloe Health, a 298-bed hospital in Chico, California, is postponing non-emergency surgeries. “Enloe Health will be pausing on elective procedures. Emergency and lifesaving operations will not be affected,” the hospital said on its Facebook page.

The American College of Emergency Physicians sent out an alert Monday encouraging members “to help conserve the supply and work with your hospitals to establish protocols for reserving these IV fluids for the most necessary use cases.”

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) has also issued guidance to hospitals and health systems in managing supplies. Health systems should evaluate supplies across the organization and be prepared to allocate supplies to those areas of greatest need, the group said.

Florida hospitals, some of which have already endured substantial disruptions from Helene, are also seeing shortages, according to the Florida Hospital Association. Hospitals are seeing “an on-going and growing supply disruption” of IV solutions, the group said on its website.

Several Florida hospitals evacuated due to Helene, and some Florida healthcare workers lost their homes to flooding on the west coast. Florida is also bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Milton, which is expected to hit the state’s west coast Wednesday.

The Ohio Hospital Association is working with hospitals and the Ohio Department of Health to provide weekly updates on IV supplies to get an accurate assessment of inventory across the state.

Seeking help

The federal government can take some steps to help hospitals, the American Hospital Association says.

Hospitals are asking the Food and Drug Administration to declare a shortage of sterile IV solutions, which will enable providers to have more flexibility to deal with the shortage. The hospital association is also asking the government to help identify international manufacturers that are capable of producing IV solutions and their containers.

Hospitals are pressing President Biden’s administration to declare a national public health emergency that would allow for waivers of Medicare and Medicaid regulations.

The hospital association has also asked the White House to invoke the Defense Production Act to spur manufacturers to produce more IV solutions and containers. The association is also asking the Department of Defense to make transportation available for emergency supplies from international sources.

Hospitals have become very accustomed to dealing with shortages of key supplies in the past few years. In the spring, the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists reported “an all-time high” in the shortage of medications, including cancer drugs.

Health systems have also dealt with unexpected shortages of other basic supplies. This year, hospitals have grappled with shortages of bottles for blood cultures.

The IV shortage also echoes another disruption of supplies two years ago, when health systems grappled with a shortage of contrast dye used in medical imaging. In 2022, hospitals had to conserve supplies of dye after a GE Healthcare plant based in Shanghai, a major supplier of contrast dye, was closed because the city was shut down for weeks due to a spike in COVID-19 cases.