How much blood can a hospital store

How long can red blood cells be stored?

Red blood cells may be stored for a maximum of 42 days. Older blood is less effective. It has been clear for some time that stored blood degrades before the 42-day limit, and some research suggests that this degradation may be harmful to patients who receive older blood.

Why does blood cost a hospital?

The cost of blood is therefore primarily due to the expense of processing, storage, and distribution. Hospitals will typically contract with a particularly blood supplier based on (1) per-unit cost to the hospital and (2) quality of service from the blood supplier.

How many units of blood are collected per day?

This amounts to 40,000 units for the whole population each day. The units are collected either as whole blood into bags containing anticoagulant citrate and nutrient phosphate and dextrose (CPD) or by apheresis into acid citrate dextrose (ACD).

How much blood does the American Red Cross supply?

However, the American Red Cross only supplies about 40% of transfused blood in the United States. What most people don’t realize is that the U.S. uses a free-market approach to maintain its blood supply with the result that there are dozens of different blood suppliers for our nation’s hospitals and they compete with each other.

How much does it cost to donate blood?

The net result is that the blood suppliers are happy when more blood is transfused and the hospitals are happy when less blood is transfused. The average price paid from hospitals to blood centers in 2013 was $225 per unit. About 38% of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood but only a fraction of eligible persons actually donate.

Does stored blood degrade before the 42-day limit?

It has been clear for some time that stored blood degrades before the 42-day limit, and some research suggests that this degradation may be harmful to patients who receive older blood. In fact, 75% of red blood cells should survive posttransfusion to be classified as a successful transfusion.