As hospitals and other health care facilities across the country struggle to deal with shortages of critical intravenous fluids caused by hurricane damage, Connecticut hospitals report that they are working closely with suppliers and carefully managing existing supplies.
Hurricane Helene forced Baxter International to shut down a North Carolina factory that makes about 60% of the country’s IV fluid supply.
Baxter’s North Cove manufacturing site “was significantly impacted by the rain and storm surge from Hurricane Helene, which was unprecedented in Western North Carolina and resulted in water flooding the facility,” the company reported.
Baxter is, however, “working closely with FDA to authorize temporary importation for additional Baxter manufacturing sites and products, which could provide additional inventory in the near term.”
The FDA has said it “is working to temporarily import some products in shortage to help meet patient needs. In this situation, we very carefully assess the overseas product for quality, making sure that it is safe for U.S. patients.”
In Connecticut, Yale New Haven Health said it “is aware of the current challenges with regard to the national IV fluid supply.
“We are working closely with our suppliers to ensure we have adequate supplies across YNHHS. We continue to closely monitor the situation as it evolves,” the health system said in a statement.
Hartford HealthCare said that “at this time there is no impact” but the health system continues “to diligently monitor the situation,” a spokesperson said.
Further, Hartford HealthCare remains “cautious to carefully manage our existing supply.”
Request for comment were sent to Nuvance Health and to the Connecticut Hospital Association.
CNN reported that the disruptions caused by Hurricane Helene “exacerbated shortages of critical intravenous fluids in the United States, and now the Biden administration has invoked the wartime powers of the Defense Production Act in the latest move to help speed recovery efforts.”
CBS also reported that the Biden administration “says it has invoked the wartime powers of the Defense Production Act to speed rebuilding of a major American factory of intravenous fluids that was wrecked by Hurricane Helene last month. Damage to the plant in North Carolina has worsened a nationwide shortage of IV fluids, and hospitals say they are still postponing some surgeries and other procedures as a result.”
About “60% of the nation’s IV supplies had relied on production from the plant, run by medical supplier Baxter, before it was damaged by the storm,” CBS reported.
Baxter reported that “importation authorizations and the ability to reallocate capacity from other Baxter facilities enabled us on Oct. 9 to increase U.S. allocation levels of our highest demand IV fluids for direct customers from 40% to 60%, and for distributors from 10% to 60%.”
“We are grateful for the support of HHS, FDA and ASPR in the ongoing recovery and remediation of our North Cove site and for their collaboration in helping to mitigate the impact on product supply,” Baxter said.
“The FDA is working continuously to address the shortages and supply disruptions to ensure patients have access to certain parenteral drugs, including IV solutions,” the agency said.
The agency also said it issued “an immediately-in-effect guidance, Temporary Policies for Compounding Certain Parenteral Drug Products, for compounders to help fill the gaps from the impact of Hurricane Helene on Baxter International’s North Cove facility. ”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that Baxter “expects to restart North Cove production in phases and further increase allocations of certain intravenous solution product codes to customers to 90%-100% by the end of the year.”
