Three of the state's largest blood banks vote to merge

Three of the state's largest blood banks — including St. Petersburg-based Florida Blood Services — have voted to join forces.

The move was approved by the boards of the three nonprofit groups Thursday night, said Dan Eberts, a spokesman for Florida Blood Services. The other two groups are Florida's Blood Centers and Community Blood Centers of Florida.

Eberts said the new group, which doesn't have a name yet, will become the nation's third-largest blood bank, behind the American Red Cross and United Blood Services, which serves 18 states.

Blood bank officials say the move will benefit the communities they serve by providing the safest blood supply at the lowest possible cost. They say it also will enable the blood banks to better respond to the need for blood or blood products in emergency situations, such as hurricanes, anywhere in the state.

Eberts said the move is also a response to a national health care trend in which hospitals are joining forces in order to save money by providing care more efficiently.

"As hospitals consolidate, they may want to bid out their contract to one blood center to provide all their blood services," Eberts said. "A larger blood center can do that."

Details still need to be worked out, such as who will lead the group and where it will be based. Eberts said those decisions will be made in the coming months, and he expects the merged group to start work around the first of the year.

Florida Blood Services currently serves more than 90 hospitals and other health facilities in the greater Tampa Bay area, the Panhandle, other north Florida counties and parts of southern Alabama and Georgia.

Community Blood Centers of Florida serves southeast and central Florida, including Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. And Florida's Blood Centers serves 21 Florida counties, including Brevard, Orange, Lake, Charlotte and Lee.

The three groups serve more than 200 hospitals and employ about 2,700 workers. Eberts said the goal of the merger is to allow "everyone to keep their jobs" but that job changes and relocations might be necessary.

Richard Martin can be reached at rmartin@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3322