SHOULD HOSPITALS COLLECT BLOOD COMPONENTS - YES - HOSPITALS PUT PATIENTS FIRST

Stand-alone blood collection centers throughout the world have suffere d in recent years from cost overruns, quality and regulatory problems of major proportion, and a subsequent deterioration of service levels to their communities. Their leaders have been probed by public interes t groups, the media and governmental bodies, removed from positions of authority, and sadly, subpoenaed, vilified in public and even jailed. Patients, healthcare providers and hospitals have suffered through th is period as well, and continue to search for alternatives to their la rgely monopoly suppliers. In most cases, the best alternative is the o ne they control themselves. Should hospitals collect blood components? Yes, since their mission-patient care-takes precedence over that of a ny non-provider healthcare organization. Patients and the public-at-la rge gain many things by the continued presence of hospitals in the pro vision of donor services: provider and patient needs are given first b illing, and innovation in blood services is encouraged by the transfus ion medicine physicians and allied health professionals who are closes t to the patient. Service requirements are recognized and met faster a nd in simpler ways, and quality concerns are addressed with a minimum of bureaucracy and a maximum of common sense. Finally, when hospitals control their own donor programs, costs are more easily tracked and be tter controlled. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.