Member Spotlight: Florida's Blood Centers

Reagents

The Situation: Purchasing reagents can be a difficult and complicated process. In addition to worrying about price per testing figures, different machines can require specific reagents. At Florida's Blood Centers, using the same brand of reagent as the machine it was used on meant managing multiple contracts at the same time.

“We were looking for a way of increasing our purchasing power,” said Terri Palamar, Director of Procurement for Florida's Blood Centers, “We were looking for more than a way to lower bottom line costs, but also a way to increase our access to more contracts and vendors.”

The Solution: Florida's Blood Centers found their answer: “GSABC can help find reagent contracts, compare pricing, and help me plan where I can save on my costs,” said Palamar, “That's a huge help.” Additionally, the availability of online contracts has simplified and streamlined their purchasing process.

Dealing with reagent vendors has also been more targeted. Previously, Florida's Blood Centers would work with vendors that are focused on serving hospitals, their representatives aren't familiar with blood banking and its specific needs.

“Even though we deal in blood and it's kind of a hospital thing, it's not really - it's very different,” said Palamar. “The shared experiences and knowledge at GSABC have ensured that we deal with the right people and get the right products.”

The Outcome: Palamar cites GSABC's accessibility as the greatest value that Florida's Blood center receives. “Whether it's specific to reagents or just a general question, having someone available that I can ask questions and help me save costs goes beyond empirical savings in our bottom line.”

“They're always looking out in our best interest - if there's a better reagent contract or a lower price out there, they want to know about it and they'll try to add that contract or bring our prices down. It's a huge help to me to have them negotiating on our behalf.”

About Florida's Blood Centers: FBC, a founding member of both the American Association of Blood Banks and the Florida Association of Blood Banks, has been a pioneer and leader within the industry. It was one of the first blood banks in the country to implement new capabilities and services such as frozen blood storage, a national clearinghouse system for exchanging blood, community branches and bloodmobile collection. More recently, FBC responded within 15-minutes of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.  FBC sent 400 units of blood for the innocent victims in the New York and Washington, D.C. area. It also served as the second-largest civilian supplier of blood to the military during the Gulf War and was one of the first to respond to the urgent need for blood following the Los Angeles civil riots, Hurricane Andrew and Hurricane Charley.