Activities

The Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP) is responsible for coordinating HHS activities related to blood and tissue safety and availability. Within this role, OIDP’s Blood and Tissue Safety and Availability Group provides oversight of a variety of programs, studies, surveys, and meetings which align with mission of the office.

Workshops and Symposiums

OIDP/Blood and Tissue Safety and Availability Group co-sponsor a variety of federal workshops and symposiums on relevant and pressing topics for blood and tissue safety and availability. 

National Blood Collection and Utilization Survey

Since 1971, national surveys have been administered intermittently in the United States to estimate blood collection and utilization.  The biennial National Blood Collection and Utilization Survey (NBCUS) has been the primary method of gathering these data in the United States since 1997, historically (2005-2011) published as a Department of Health and Human Services survey report.  The survey includes nearly one hundred questions on general facility information; blood collections, processing, and testing; blood and blood component transfusions; modification of components; and prices paid by hospitals for blood components.  To estimate blood collection and utilization, all US blood collection centers and all US acute care hospitals performing at least one hundred inpatient surgical procedures per year and located within the 50 states and the District of Columbia are asked to participate.

National Tissue Recovery through Utilization Survey

The American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) was contracted to conduct a survey of U.S. tissue establishments that provide or engage in one or more services involving tissue from living or deceased persons. Services included donor eligibility assessment and recovery, processing, storage and distribution of human tissue. The report provides a comprehensive view of tissue banking activities in 2012 and 2015. Key information collected from both years, and from a 2007 survey by AATB, was compared where possible.

Tissue and Organ Donor Epidemiology Study - PDF

Mandatory and voluntary measures are in place to provide safe, transplantable organs and tissues; however, efforts to minimize the risk of donor-derived infections continue. The overarching goals of the Tissue and Organ Donor Epidemiology Study were to: (1) develop a study design or framework to effectively collect and analyze demographic, screening, and infectious disease testing data obtained from deceased organ, tissue, and eye donors, including referral-only donors, in a standardized manner; (2) identify challenges to obtaining such data in a consistent and standardized format; and (3) identify limitations, including sources of bias from data collected. This exploratory study creates a pathway for further research to more accurately estimate infection risks associated with organ and tissue transplantation.

Blood Sustainability Study

OIDP has contracted RAND Corp to produce a research report titled: “Toward a sustainable blood supply in the United States: an analysis of the current system and alternatives for the future.”  The objective of this study is to analyze and develop a report describing the present and potential future sustainability of the U.S. blood system. The study draws on a range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, including analysis of aggregated claims data and survey data, semi-structured interviews across key stakeholder groups, and reviews of existing peer-reviewed and other literature.