Surgical schedules across the country could be canceled for several more weeks while a crucial IV and sterile fluid plant remains closed due to hurricane damage.
People often schedule elective surgeries in the fall and early winter, when their insurance coverage picks up more of the bill, but they may have to wait while health systems health preserve supplies for emergencies.
“It’s not great for patients, but it kind of does the most good with what you have,” said Erin Fox, assistant director of pharmacy at University of Utah Health.
The federal government and medical suppliers have taken several steps to ease the supply crisis created by Hurricane Helene, which forced Baxter International (BAX) to close its North Carolina plant late last month .
But experts say supplies are still unstable and improvements will take time. Here’s a closer look at the situation.
What did Hurricane Helene do?
According to the American Hospital Association, Baxter’s North Cove, North Carolina, manufactures about 60 percent of the intravenous solutions used daily in the United States. It also manufactures fluids used by home dialysis patients and sterile water used to clean patients’ surgical sites during operations.
But flooding from the storm washed out nearby bridges and water entered the plant, forcing it to close. Baxter says the site suffered no structural damage.
How has this affected patient care?
Health systems began conserving fluids soon after the plant closed. Some patients switched patients who could drink fluids to Gatorade or water instead of giving them an IV.
Hospitals have also started postponing planned procedures that can wait, like some orthopedic or heart surgeries, said Dr. Chris DeRienzo, chief medical officer of the American Hospital Association.
Baxter has limited the fluid supplies it sends to distributors and health systems. The impact on a patient will depend in part on the extent to which a hospital or health system depends on Baxter, said Nancy Foster, vice president of the hospital association.
What are we doing to improve supply?
The United States Food and Drug Administration has authorized the temporary importation of fluids from Baxter factories in several countries.
The company has also already begun to relax some of the limits it had placed on supplies.
Baxter’s rival, B. Braun Medical, has increased production at its Daytona Beach, Fla., site, which escaped damage from another hurricane, as well as at a site in California.
The FDA also issued new temporary guidance intended to make it easier for compounding pharmacies to prepare certain IV medications that are in short supply.
Will this contribute to the shortage of IV fluids?
Supply experts are optimistic the situation will improve, but they cannot say whether these measures will fill the void left by the factory closure.
Fox said his health system still faces uncertainty because the amount Baxter allocated to them is not always available from their distributor.
Foster said hospitals like to have extra supplies on their shelves so they can handle both planned surgeries and unforeseen events, but “we’re not going to be there for a while.”
Another complication: Hospitals and surgical centers are heading into a busy time of year. Cold and flu season fills hospital beds. Additionally, patients also tend to schedule more procedures toward the end of the year before their deductibles renew in January, exposing them to thousands of dollars in costs.
When will the Baxter factory reopen?
Power and water are restored to the North Carolina plant. Employees have been deep cleaning production rooms and testing and repairing equipment.
Baxter says it wants to restart production in stages by the end of the year and also hopes to ease limits on some customer orders by then.
But the company has no timetable for production to return to pre-hurricane levels.
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AP Health Editor Matthew Perrone contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Education Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.