System and method for blood component supply chain management

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing inventories of blood components are disclosed. Such systems and methods are configured to improve the predictability, efficiency, and/or automation of blood component supply chains. Tools are provided for tracking blood component inventories, using blood component demand, and coordinating donations to meet current and anticipated demand. Some embodiments of the systems and methods identify when blood component units at a health care facility are beginning to run low or are approaching expiration, before the need for additional units becomes critical. Some embodiments of the systems and methods coordinate new donations and modify existing scheduled donations to meet real-time and forecasted demand for blood components.

1 . A method of collecting and tracking blood components, comprising:
 receiving input data at a workstation of a blood center to identify a donor;   accessing, based on the input data, a scheduled appointment for the donor including an identification of a scheduled blood component to be collected from the donor;   identifying an anticipated or current need for a type of blood component;   accessing a donor profile of the donor comprising donation history for the donor;   determining based on the donation history that the donor is eligible to donate the needed type of blood component;   on the day of the donation, generating a recommendation to modify the scheduled blood component for the scheduled appointment to the needed type of blood component based on the determined eligibility and the identified need;   transmitting the recommended modification for display at the workstation;   receiving a selection at the workstation of the recommended modification;   reading identification information on a blood component container containing the needed type of blood component collected at the scheduled appointment;   adding, based on the reading, the identification information to an electronic inventory log;   receiving an order electronically from a healthcare facility workstation disposed at a healthcare facility;   prompting a user at the healthcare facility workstation for payment for the order;   reading the identification information on the blood component container when the blood component container is removed from storage in the blood center to update a status of the blood component container in the electronic inventory log; and   reading the identification information on the blood component container at the healthcare facility and updating a healthcare facility electronic inventory log based on the reading, wherein the healthcare facility electronic inventory log comprises the identification information, the type of blood component in the blood component container, a blood type of the blood component and an expiration date of the blood component in the blood component container.   
     
     
         2 . The method of collecting and tracking blood components of  claim 1 , wherein the order is placed automatically based on inventory of the needed type of blood component falling below a specified amount. 
     
     
         3 . The method of collection and tracking blood components of  claim 1 , further comprising monitoring the healthcare center facility's supply and rate of usage of blood products, wherein the monitoring is done by the blood center. 
     
     
         4 . The method of collection and tracking blood components of  claim 1 , further comprising generating an alert when the blood component container is expired or almost expired. 
     
     
         5 . The method of collection and tracking blood components of  claim 1 , wherein a tracking device is used to read the identification information on the blood component container when the blood component container is removed from storage in the blood center, wherein the tracking device is part of a wireless mobile device comprising a tablet or smartphone. 
     
     
         6 . The method of collection and tracking blood components of  claim 1 , further comprising viewing data from the first electronic inventory log at the healthcare facility workstation. 
     
     
         7 . The method of collection and tracking blood components of  claim 1 , further comprising processing payment for the order at the time the order is placed. 
     
     
         8 . The method of collection and tracking blood components of  claim 1 , further comprising processing payment for the order at the time the order is shipped. 
     
     
         9 . A method of collecting and tracking blood components, comprising:
 receiving input data at a workstation of a blood center to identify a donor;   accessing, based on the input data, a scheduled appointment for the donor including an identification of a scheduled blood component to be collected from the donor, wherein the scheduled blood component comprises one of whole blood, double red blood cells, plasma, and platelets;   identifying an anticipated or current need for a type of blood component selected from the group comprising whole blood, double red blood cells, plasma and platelets;   accessing a donor profile of the donor comprising donation history for the donor;   determining based on the donation history that the donor is eligible to donate the needed type of blood component;   generating a recommendation to modify the scheduled blood component for the scheduled appointment to the needed type of blood component based on the determined eligibility and the identified need;   transmitting the recommended modification for display at the workstation;   receiving a selection at the workstation of the recommended modification;   collecting the needed type of blood component from the donor into a blood component container at the scheduled appointment;   reading identification information on the blood component container;   updating the blood component container's status in the electronic inventory log based on the reading;   receiving an order electronically from a healthcare facility workstation disposed at a healthcare facility;   prompting a user at the healthcare facility workstation for payment for the order;   reading the identification information on the blood component container when the blood component container is removed from inventory in the blood center to update a status of the blood component container in the electronic inventory log; and   reading the identification information on the blood component container at the healthcare facility and updating a healthcare facility electronic inventory log based on the reading.   
     
     
         10 . The method of collecting and tracking blood components of  claim 9 , wherein the healthcare facility electronic inventory log comprises the identification information, the type of blood component in the blood component container, a blood type of the blood component and an expiration date of the blood component in the blood component container 
     
     
         11 . The method of collecting and tracking blood components of  claim 9 , wherein the order is placed automatically based on inventory of the needed type of blood component falling below a specified amount. 
     
     
         12 . The method of collection and tracking blood components of  claim 9 , further comprising monitoring the healthcare center facility's supply and rate of usage of blood products, wherein the monitoring is done by the blood center. 
     
     
         13 . The method of collection and tracking blood components of  claim 9 , further comprising generating an alert when the blood component container is expired or almost expired. 
     
     
         14 . The method of collection and tracking blood components of  claim 9 , wherein a tracking device is used to read the identification information on the blood component container when the blood component container is removed from inventor in the blood center, wherein the tracking device is part of a wireless mobile device comprising a tablet or smartphone. 
     
     
         15 . The method of collection and tracking blood components of  claim 9 , further comprising processing payment for the order at the time the order is placed or at the time the order is shipped. 
     
     
         16 . A method of collecting and tracking blood components, the method comprising:
 receiving, by one or more processors, inputs at a workstation of a blood center to identify a donor;   accessing, by the one or more processors, based on the identifying, a scheduled appointment for the donor including an identification of a scheduled blood component to be collected from the donor;   accessing, by the one or more processors, a user profile of the donor;   determining, by the one or more processors, from the user profile, an eligibility for the donor;   determining, by the one or more processors, based on a number of times the donor donated in the past, that the donor is eligible to donate again;   determining, in real-time by the one or more processors, that a need for desired blood components desired by the blood center is greater than that for the scheduled blood component;   determining, by the one or more processors, a device capability of a blood component collection machine in collecting the desired blood components during the scheduled appointment;   modifying, by the one or more processors, the scheduled appointment based on the determined eligibility, the determined need and the determined device capability;   transmitting, by the one or more processors, the modification for display at the workstation;   collecting the desired blood components using the blood component collection machine after selection of the desired blood components;   reading, by the one or more processors, a code at a time of the collecting of the desired blood components;   adding, by the one or more processors, based on the reading, the code for the desired blood components to an electronic inventory log;   reading, by the one or more processors, the code when the desired blood components are removed from storage in the blood center to automatically update a status of the desired blood components in the electronic inventory log;   determining, by the one or more processors, using the electronic inventory log, respective ones of the desired blood components that have expired or been quarantined or recalled;   identifying, by the one or more processors, a location of the respective ones of the desired blood components when the respective ones of the desired blood components have expired or been quarantined or recalled; and   displaying, by the one or more processors, an alert using the electronic inventory log, when the respective ones of the desired blood components are expired or have been quarantined or recalled.   
     
     
         17 . The method of collecting and trucking blood components of  claim 16 , further comprising beginning the collecting of the desired blood components automatically. 
     
     
         18 . The method of collecting and tracking blood components of  claim 16 , wherein the code is stored on an RFID tag. 
     
     
         19 . The method of collecting and tracking blood components of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 performing, by the one or more processors, a search of user profiles of previous donors to identify potential donors who are eligible to donate one or more of the desired blood components;   identifying, by the one or more processors, one or more recommended donors from the potential donors, wherein the one or more recommended optimized donors are identified based at leas in part on a plurality of donor characteristics;   generating, by the one or more processors, a list of the one or more recommended optimized donors;   identifying, by the one or more processors, contact information for at least one of the one or more recommended donors, and   contacting at least one of the one or more recommended donors to recruit for a donation.   
     
     
         20 . The method of collecting and tracking blood components of  claim 16 , further comprising comparing, by the one or more processors, the scheduled blood component with one or more blood components associated with current or anticipated demand.