Hospitals in West Virginia are having to conserve IV fluid after a manufacturing plant in North Carolina closed due to damage during Hurricane Helene. (Sean Anthony Eddy | Getty Images)
As the United States health care industry continues to experience a shortage in IV fluid brought on by Hurricane Helene, West Virginia hospital systems have put in place their own plans to conserve the product used extensively across medical procedures, a representative of the state’s hospital association said.
Hospitals have been asked to conserve the fluid after a Baxter manufacturing plant in North Cove, North Carolina closed due to damage during the hurricane. The plant is the country’s largest manufacturer of both IV and dialysis solutions.
“Hospitals are implementing organization-specific plans to conserve those IV fluids,” said Hallie Morgan, vice president of quality and data services for the West Virginia Hospital Association. “It could be something from using alternative sources of fluids, like using oral rehydration or using smaller volumes, all the way up to delaying some elected procedures to preserve that supply for the critical patients.”
IV fluid is used to administer medication and nutrition as well as to irrigate, or clean, surgical sites. Most West Virginia hospitals receive IV fluid from Baxter, Morgan said.
Dr. Todd Karpinski, WVU Medicine’s chief pharmacy officer, said their facilities have been conserving the products, but so far “very few” elective procedures have been delayed because of the shortage.
“Those cases that have been — and again, they’ve been very minor — are those ones that are very elective and those that require a lot of irrigation fluids, like mostly orthopedic cases,” Karpinski said.
Mon Health Systems in the Morgantown area is also a client of Baxter, though so far the impact to hospitals has been minimal, said Dale Witte, a spokesman for Vandalia Health Systems. Vandalia Health comprises Mon Health, Charleston Area Medical Center and Davis Health System.
“At this point, the impact has been minimal as we as a system are managing it,” Witte wrote in an email to West Virginia Watch. “There are some conservation efforts in place to make sure that we are not using fluids when they are not needed, using the most appropriate fluid bag size and sourcing products from other vendors.”
CAMC Health System and Davis Health System have different vendors IV fluids, and have been able to share some supplies, Witte said.
In Baxter’s latest update Wednesday, the company wrote that it would increase allocations of highest demand IV fluids to 60% to customers and distributors. The company said last week its goal is to restart the plant in phases and return to 90% to full allocations of certain products to customers by the end of the year.
The shortage comes as hospitals around the country prepare for the fall and winter seasons, when cases of flu and COVID historically rise.
“It’s our hope that through our mitigation strategies and increases in allocation that it will not impact us during the high flu and potentially high COVID seasons,” Karpinski said.
Morgan said with Baxter increasing allocations to customers over the coming months and support from the federal government, hospitals will work together to manage the shortage.
“I think the hospitals are going to be able to coordinate and work together and manage to ensure they have the supply they need to take care of any patients that we see from the acute respiratory season,” Morgan said.
Karpinski said while WVU Medicine is affected by the shortage, its clinicians are working to find alternatives to IV fluids and irrigations, and the organization has no plans to cancel procedures en masse.
In a statement Friday, Gailyn Markham, a spokesperson for the state Department of Health, said the agency is “closely monitoring” the shortage and understands the significant impact it has on West Virginia healthcare providers and patients.
The state Center for Threat Preparedness is surveying health care providers to assess the status of IV fluid supplies in West Virginia with the goal of ensuring that health care facilities have the necessary resources, she said.
“The department continues to work in close coordination with state and federal agencies to monitor the situation and support our health care providers,” Markham said. “These efforts will continue as the supply chain is restored.”
Representatives from the state Hospital Association said they recognize the collaborative response to the shortage from government as well as health care and industry officials.
The federal government is allowing shipments of the fluid from overseas Baxter facilities and expediting the consideration of shelf life extensions. U.S. health officials helped move supply of IV fluid from a Florida manufacturing plant ahead of Hurricane Milton.
“We do appreciate those ongoing efforts to mitigate the shortage,” Morgan said.
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