Christine Jordan Sexton
A hack targeting one of the top blood suppliers in the state has put Florida hospitals on the brink of a critical blood shortage.
Florida hospitals have had to cancel optional surgical procedures to help maintain their future blood supply after a cyberattack on OneBlood, the not-for-profit blood center serving more than 250 Florida hospitals.
“We have implemented manual processes and procedures to remain operational,” OneBlood Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Public Relations Susan Forbes said in a prepared statement.
“Manual processes take significantly longer to perform and impacts inventory availability. In an effort to further manage the blood supply we have asked the more than 250 hospitals we serve to activate their critical blood shortage protocols and to remain in that status for the time being.”
Florida Hospital Association President and CEO Mary Mayhew said OneBlood supplies product to between 80% and 90% of the hospitals in the state, and that the facilities started feeling the effects of the attack Monday.
Mayhew told Florida Politics it was Russian cyberattack but OneBlood has not confirmed that to be the case.
She said there is a significant shortage of platelets which is “absolutely for some hospitals affecting their ability to do transplants, open-heart surgeries and treatments for oncology patients.”
OneBlood said it is working closely with federal, state and local agencies as part of its comprehensive response to the situation. Due to OneBlood’s efforts, hospitals on Wednesday were receiving about 60% of their normal blood supply, Mayhew said.
According to a press release, OneBlood experienced a “ransomware event” that has “significantly reduced” its ability to test and distribute blood. They are operating at a significantly reduced capacity.
“OneBlood takes the security of our network extremely seriously. Our team reacted quickly to assess our systems and began an investigation to confirm the full nature and scope of the event,” Forbes said. “Our comprehensive response efforts are ongoing and we are working diligently to restore full functionality to our systems as expeditiously as possible.”
Jackson Health System has procured additional units of blood from another supplier and currently has enough inventory system wide “to continue performing the types of complex procedures that Jackson is known for — organ transplants, trauma-related surgeries, heart surgeries, and more,” spokesperson Lidia Amoretti said.
“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,” she added.
Blood centers across the country are sending blood and platelets to OneBlood, and the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies (AABB) Disaster Task Force is coordinating national resources to assist with additional blood products being sent to OneBlood, the company said in a statement.
In a statement to Florida Politics, Tampa General Hospital (TGH), a level 1 trauma center, said it is taking a “proactive approach to conserve supplies where circumstances allow. “
TGH said it is working closely with state and federal leaders to ensure it has adequate supplies to mitigate the impact on its operations.
“At this time, we are not rescheduling surgeries and are continuing to accept patients at our facilities,” TGH said in a statement.
Orlando Health also issued a statement saying it was working with OneBlood to “manage the situation so our patients may continue to receive essential blood products.”
