AABB, America’s Blood Centers and the American Red Cross – which collectively represent the nation’s blood collection establishments, transfusion services, and transfusion medicine professionals – appreciate the Department of Health and Human Services’ ongoing support for the blood community and commend the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for developing recommendations for health care facilities to consider as they restart providing non-emergent care to patients with non-COVID-19 needs. We request that CMS update these recommendations to recognize the need for hospitals to work with their blood supplier to ensure their blood inventory is sufficient to support the ever-changing requirements for blood, especially as resumption of elective surgeries and non-emergent care increase blood utilization.
