Dive Brief:
- The American Hospital Association has written a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg asking the agency to help relieve a severe and long-standing shortage of IV fluids.
- Right now, the AHA notes, hospitals are struggling to manage the shortfall by methods including smaller IV bags, switching patients to appropriate alternatives and prioritizing patients based on clinical factors.
- The AHA wants the FDA to go beyond working with the four major manufacturers of IV fluids and pushed those manufacturers to make investments to ensure an increasing supply for the future. The hospital group also wants to see the FDA seek out new domestic suppliers of saline.
Dive Insight:
Hospitals have enough to worry about the having to wonder whether they'll have something as basic as IV saline solution available when they need it. It's imperative for the FDA to take whatever steps are necessary to alleviate the shortage, both in the short term and over time. In the mean time, it looks like hospitals will have to continue their struggle with shortages for some time into the future.