Blood center to link with Arizona nonprofit

The Inland Northwest Blood Center announced Wednesday it will affiliate with an Arizona nonprofit that operates 70 blood centers in 18 states.

“This is not a merger, nor is it a purchase,” Judi Young, CEO of the Inland Northwest Blood Center, said in a press release.

Young added in a telephone interview that the affiliation won’t require any money to change hands between the Spokane blood center and Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Blood Systems Inc. and that INBC will remain locally operated.

Under the agreement, which is expected to be signed by June 1, one member of the Blood Systems board will join INBC’s board, and one member of the Spokane organization’s board likewise will become a full voting member of Blood Systems’ board. The affiliation is scheduled to last three years as a “kind of honeymoon period for them to take a look at us and for us to take a look at them,” Young said.

The agreement will allow the Spokane blood center to take part in group purchasing programs and provide access to other Blood Systems’ programs and information, Young said. Efficiencies of scale should help INBC stabilize its finances over the long term, she said.

Faced with declining revenues last year, the blood center cut some positions, curtailed office hours and imposed temporary salary reductions. By the end of the year, the organization had made up the deficit, Young said at the time.

INBC doesn’t plan to combine administrative functions with Blood Systems, although “it’s something we may look at down the road,” Young said. The blood center employs about 150 people.

Young said the affiliation will help the INBC expand its client base to include hospitals it doesn’t currently serve, although she declined to be specific.