OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WellSky, a leading health and community care technology company, today announced a collaborative effort with the Alloantibody Exchange, a non-profit dedicated to improving blood transfusion safety and building a national transfusion antibody registry easily accessible to both hospitals and blood banks.
The Alloantibody Exchange works with technology partners like WellSky to facilitate access to red blood cell antibody information across hospital transfusion services. The sharing of this information is an important part of reducing the number of incompatible transfusions and both acute and delayed hemolytic transfusion reactions. According to the Food and Drug Administration, delayed hemolytic transfusion reactions, a type of non-ABO hemolytic reaction, are a leading cause of transfusion-associated deaths.
“We started the Alloantibody Exchange because transfusion recipients were receiving incompatible blood, and it seemed largely preventable,” said Dr. George Hauser, president and founder of the Alloantibody Exchange. “It is not always possible to provide compatible blood at the time of transfusion without a patient’s historical record of alloantibodies and antigens. The Alloantibody Exchange will provide WellSky clients with secure and near real-time access to this important data.”
WellSky is joining 45 leading hospitals in recognition of the important blood transfusion safety benefits of the Alloantibody Exchange. Many studies have shown that sharing a patient’s antibody history can improve patient safety.
“The Alloantibody Exchange will provide WellSky clients the ability to access a cloud-based system to review their patient’s alloantibody and antigen histories,” said Dr. Jay Menitove, CEO of JEM Consulting and the former CEO of the Community Blood Center of Greater Kansas City. “This is the best way to reduce negative transfusion reactions.”
WellSky Transfusion solution users also will be able to generate, edit, and convert reports that they can send to the exchange through a secure transfer protocol.
“Eliminating the burden of making phone calls to track down patient information and streamlining access to patient histories allows for a much more efficient system,” said Aaron Winkelmann, vice president and general manager of blood and biotherapies at WellSky. “Our clients have raised their hands in support of this project, and we have a responsibility to assist in the access of this level of antibody data that has historically been obscured from safe transmission.”
To learn more about the Alloantibody Exchange, visit alloantibody.org.
To learn more about WellSky Transfusion, visit wellsky.com/transfusion.
About WellSky®
WellSky is one of America’s largest and most innovative healthcare technology companies leading the movement for intelligent, coordinated care. Our proven software, analytics, and services power better outcomes and lower costs for stakeholders across the health and community care continuum. In today’s value-based care environment, WellSky helps providers, payers, health systems, and community organizations scale processes, improve collaboration for growth, harness the power of data analytics, and achieve better outcomes by further connecting clinical and social care. WellSky serves more than 20,000 client sites — including the largest hospital systems, blood banks, cell therapy labs, home health and hospice franchises, post-acute providers, government agencies, and human services organizations. Informed by more than 40 years of providing software and expertise, WellSky anticipates clients’ needs and innovates relentlessly to build healthy, thriving communities. For more information, visit wellsky.com.
About Alloantibody Exchange
The Alloantibody Exchange connects blood banks together allowing them to electronically share patient’s alloantibody and antigen information. In multiple settings, the availability of this information has made blood transfusion safer. The project is supported by over 45 hospitals, including nearly all the top 20 US News & World Report Hospitals, in addition to the ASCP (American Society of Clinical Pathology) and AABB (Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies). Interested blood banks can learn more at alloantibody.org and sign up for the Alloantibody Exchange via email: welcome@alloantibody.org.
