Baxter’s North Cove manufacturing site in Marion, N.C. — which produced 60% of the nation’s IV supply before Hurricane Helene — expects to share plans for gradually increasing IV fluid allocations over the next several weeks, with the goal of reaching 100% allocation across several IV product codes by the end of 2024.
Vince Green, MD, chief medical officer for El Segundo, Calif.-based Pipeline Health, told KFF Health News that conservation measures could become more common after the shortage ends.
“If they come in with IV fluids that the paramedics have started, let’s continue it,” Dr. Green told KFF Health News. “If it saves half a bag of fluids, so be it, but it adds up over time.”
Pipeline Health is also encouraging patients to drink Gatorade or water as opposed to relying on IV fluid for hydration.
Falls Church, Va.-based Inova Health System’s chief of research stewardship, Sam Elgawly, MD, told KFF Health News that the system has dropped its IV fluid usage by 55% since early October.
“There has been increasing literature over the last 10 to 20 years that indicates maybe you don’t need to use as much,” Dr Elgawly told KFF Health News. “[The shortage] accelerated our sort of innovation and testing of that idea.”
Read the full KFF Health News report here.
Editor’s note: This article was updated Dec. 3, 2024 at 5:00 p.m.
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