A ransomware attack on OneBlood, a nonprofit blood center, is prompting some systems to activate critical blood shortage protocols and causing at least one organization to postpone elective inpatient surgeries, the Miami Herald reported July 31.
OneBlood is using manual processes while it works to restore its software systems. As a result, the center is operating at a significantly reduced capacity and is limited in its ability to ship blood products to Florida, according to CNN.
Florida health systems, including Cleveland Clinic Florida and HCA Florida Healthcare, told the Miami Herald that they are closely monitoring supplies and have not seen significant care disruptions.
Baptist Health South Florida in Coral Gables said it was rescheduling elective and nonemergency inpatient surgeries that might require blood products "out of an abundance of caution."
"Physicians are evaluating surgeries on a case-by-case basis and will communicate directly with any patients whose surgeries may need to be rescheduled," a spokesperson said in a statement to the Miami Herald. "Outpatient surgeries at our ambulatory surgery centers are not affected and are proceeding as planned."
Miami-based Jackson Health System said it has secured additional blood units from another supplier and currently has sufficient supplies to meet surgery demands.
"Because we do not know how long this outage will impact our supply chain, our clinical leadership is reviewing every planned surgical case requiring blood in order to ensure the limited supply is distributed appropriately, and putting processes in place to preserve this valuable resource," the system told the Miami Herald.
OneBlood serves more than 250 hospitals across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.