Extreme heat, cyberattacks impact blood supply

Editor's Note

The Red Cross is reporting a 25-percent drop in its national blood inventory due to hot weather a month after the American Hospital Association (AHA) warned about the impact of cyberattacks on critical supplies at hospitals.

According to an August 6 report in The Hill, heat-related challenges have impacted nearly 100 Red Cross blood drives in almost every state where the organization operates. People staying indoors reduces turnout and forces cancellations, even while constant demand drains supplies. The situation is particularly dire for O-type blood, the most commonly transfused blood type. Persistent heat is expected through August, which kicks off peak Atlantic season and predicted by Red Cross to be “extremely active.” With fewer donors than any point in the past 2 decades, the organization is asking the public to donate.

Meanwhile, the AHA and the Health-ISAC updated a joint cybersecurity threat bulletin after a July 30 ransomware attack disrupted operations at OneBlood, a supplier in Florida. “There are so many blood samples in the OneBlood inventory that taking the time to manually process them is causing major shipping delays” according to the report. “The resulting blood shortage is so severe that the Florida Hospital Association (FHA) has recommended that affected hospitals begin to activate critical blood shortage protocols.”

The threat bulletin was initially issued July 31 after similar disruptions at pathology provider Synnovis and blood plasma provider Octopharma. Based on these attacks, the organizations advise hospitals and health systems to prepare for supply chain disruptions that could significantly impact patients safety and care.

In other cybersecurity news, recent outages at Grand Blanc, Michigan-based McLaren Health have been attributed to a ransomware attack.