SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BLOOD COMPONENT SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

• US 20150186834A1
• Filed: 12/27/2013
• Published: 07/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fenwal Incorporated (Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA)
• Original Assignee: Fenwal Incorporated (Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA)
• Inventors: Mickles, Kathleen, Meixelsperger, Dale H., Paul, Brent, Lewis, Todd, Trussell, Christopher, Bryan, Adam, Gregory, Dean, Cork, Bill
• Granted Patent: US 10,872,307 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms

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, forecasting 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.

Claims

1. A method of tracking current blood component inventory in a blood component supply chain, comprising:

maintaining an inventory log documenting an inventory at a health care facility, the inventory log comprising a count of blood component units currently in the inventory for each of a plurality of blood components and identification data for each blood component unit, the identification data comprising a unique identifier, a component type, a blood type, and an expiration date;

receiving a signal indicating removal of a blood component unit from the inventory, wherein the signal comprises data including the unique identifier of the removed blood component unit;

deducting the removed blood component unit from the inventory log;

assessing the inventory log to determine if the count of blood component units for any of the plurality of blood components has fallen below an alert threshold; and

notifying the health care facility or a blood center if the count of blood component units for any of the plurality of blood components has fallen below the alert threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identification data further comprises unique blood characteristics.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert threshold is set at a level such that notifying the health care facility or the blood center occurs when the count of the blood component units is getting low but a need for additional inventory is not yet critical.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein notifying the health care facility or the blood center comprises generating a message for the health care facility and the blood center, the message indicating that a particular blood component is low in the inventory and identifying the particular blood component by component type, blood type, and other characteristics.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising verifying that the removed blood component unit has not expired, is not in quarantine, and has not been recalled.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising assessing the inventory log to determine if any blood component units have expired or are nearing expiration, and generating an expiration warning for the health care facility or the blood center.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising assessing the inventory log to determine if, for a particular blood component, a count of blood component units expiring beyond a specified date has fallen below a product threshold, and notifying the health care facility or the blood center if the count of blood component units has fallen below the product threshold.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically placing an order for delivery to the health care facility of additional blood component units of a particular blood component when the count of blood component units currently in the inventory for the particular blood component falls below a purchase threshold.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising assessing a blood center inventory log to determine whether the blood center has sufficient quantities of blood components in stock to meet anticipated demand for each of the plurality of blood components for which the count of blood component units currently in the inventory at the health care facility has fallen below the alert threshold.

10. A system for tracking current blood component inventory in a blood component supply chain, comprising:

a reader configured to detect and interrogate an identification tag;

a reader-coupled computer located onboard the reader or communicatively coupled to the reader, the reader-coupled computer comprising a processor, memory, an input for receiving signals from the reader, and a wireless transmitter;

a user workstation comprising a user interface with an input and output device, a processor, memory, and a wireless receiver; and

an inventory management computer comprising a wireless receiver and transmitter, a processor, and a memory storing instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the inventory management computer to implement a method comprising;

maintaining an inventory log documenting an inventory for a health care facility, the inventory log comprising a count of blood component units currently in the inventory for each of a plurality of blood components and identification data for each blood component unit, the identification data comprising a unique identifier, a component type, a blood type, and an expiration date;

receiving a signal from the reader-coupled computer indicating removal of a blood component unit from the inventory, wherein the signal comprises data including the unique identifier of the removed blood component unit;

deducting the removed blood component unit from the inventory log;

assessing the inventory log to determine if the count of blood component units for any of the plurality of blood components has fallen below an alert threshold; and

sending data via a wireless signal to the user workstation to alert a user if the count of blood component units for any of the plurality of blood components has fallen below the alert threshold.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the identification tag is an RFID chip and the reader is an RFID reader.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the inventory management computer is a server wirelessly connected to the reader-coupled computer and the user workstation via a communication network.

13. A method of generating new blood component inventory to address anticipated or current demand in a blood component supply chain, comprising:

receiving input data identifying a present donor;

accessing stored scheduling data to identify a scheduled appointment for the present donor, the scheduling data including an identification of a scheduled blood component to be collected from the present donor;

accessing a user profile of the present donor;

determining, at least in part from the scheduling data and the user profile, whether the scheduled appointment is optimized, wherein the scheduled appointment is optimized if;

the scheduled blood component is a needed blood component for which there is current or anticipated demand, and

a donation potential of the present donor is maximized; and

recommending a modification to the scheduled appointment if it is not optimized.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein recommending a modification to the scheduled appointment comprises suggesting that collection of the scheduled blood component be substituted with collection of the needed blood component or supplemented with collection of the needed blood component or an additional blood component.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the donation potential of the present donor is maximized if the present donor is scheduled to donate a maximum allowable amount of one or more blood components.

16. A system for generating new blood component inventory to address anticipated or current demand in a blood component supply chain, comprising:

a user workstation comprising a processor, memory, an input configured to receive identification data uniquely identifying a present donor, and a wireless transmitter and receiver; and

an inventory management computer comprising a wireless receiver and transmitter, a processor, and a memory storing instructions, which when executed by the processor cause the inventory management computer to implement a method comprising;

receiving input data from the user workstation identifying the present donor;

accessing stored scheduling data to identify a scheduled appointment for the present donor, the scheduling data including an identification of a scheduled blood component to be collected from the present donor;

accessing a user profile of the present donor;

determining, at least in part from the scheduling data and the user profile, whether the scheduled appointment is optimized, wherein optimization is determined based on customer demand, donor history, donor characteristics, and device capability;

recommending a modification to the scheduled collection if it is not optimized; and

transmitting the recommendation for display at the user workstation.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising determining and recommending a maximum safe collection amount.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the scheduled appointment is not optimized if:

the scheduled collection is not set for the maximum safe collection amount, or the scheduled blood component is not a needed blood component for which there is current or anticipated demand.

19. A method for generating new blood component inventory to address anticipated or current demand in a blood component supply chain, comprising:

identifying anticipated or current demand for a needed blood component;

accessing a scheduling log comprising a plurality of appointments for scheduled blood component collections;

comparing the plurality of scheduled blood component collections to the needed blood component to identify at least one target scheduled donor whose scheduled blood component collection is not for the needed blood component;

accessing a user profile of the target scheduled donor to determine if the target scheduled donor is eligible to donate the needed blood component; and

if the target scheduled donor is eligible, recommending a modification to the scheduled blood component collection.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

performing a search of user profiles of previous donors to identify one or more potential optimized donors who are eligible to donate the needed blood component;

identifying one or more recommended optimized donors from the one or more potential optimized donors, wherein the one or more recommended optimized donors are identified based at least in part on their past show rate and successful collection rate; and

generating a list of the one or more recommended optimized donors.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising identifying contact information for at least one of the one or more recommended optimized donors, and contacting at least one of the one or more recommended optimized donors to recruit for a donation.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the optimized donor recommendation of a previous donor is based, at least in part, on one or more of the following characteristics of the previous donor:

donor eligibility, platelet count, date of last donation, amount of component donated within a given time period, existence of past unsuccessful donation attempts, gender, height, weight, and blood type.