Is anyone using a contracted apheresis service to collect stem cells? If so, is the service FACT accredited? Our hospital outsourced therapeutic apheresis and stem cell collections to our contracted dialysis service. They are primarily a dialysis provider. I think we were their first stem cell site. I am concerned over how FACT will view this. The Blood Bank does assume responsibility for labeling the apheresis product.

I am wondering how this is going for you! Our cells are collected by our inhouse FACT accredited donation center which also collects volunteer and directed blood as well as providing photopheresis and therapeutic exchange services. Hospital administration has been giving them the stink eye for several years now wanting to axe them since its very difficult to operate a small volume donor center with any kind of a profit margin. The idea that the benefits provided by an onsite collection center can be hard to quantify numerically is a foreign concept to business :-\ I would hate to have to start factoring in courier delays for all our autologous and related donors the way we already do for the unrelated NMDP products. Anyway, sympathies!