Autologous And Directed Donations

Information for the patient and physician

Autologous Donations:

• The physician's office must fax or mail the completed and signed "Special Collection Order" form to the American Red Cross Special Collection's office in San Jose (see fax # below). Donors may not be scheduled for an appointment until the Physician's signed order has been received.
• Appointments are required for Autologous donations. A Special Collections Representative will call the patient within 24 to 72 hours after the Physician's order has been received. In most cases, we must speak directly to the patient to confirm their identifying information, determine their eligibility to donate, and to make their appointments. In certain cases, an additional Medi-Cal clearance may be required which may delay the patient's appointment(s).
• Prepayment for this service is required in most instances. Exceptions to some prepay fees may include Medicare, Medical, Workers Compensation and participating Kaiser hospitals.

Directed Donations:

• The physician's office must fax or mail the completed "Special Collection Order" form to the American Red Cross Special Collection's office in San Jose.
• In most cases, we must speak directly to the patient to confirm their identifying information, discuss payment, and have them authorize directed donors. Appointments for directed donors will not be given until the above steps are complete. These regulations are in place for the protection of the patient.
• The patient and donors must know their blood types before any appointments may be scheduled. CMV status may also need to be determined depending upon the recipient's need. Donors may call the Special Collections department for sites, hours, and fees for testing. Results from a blood typing may be available in 24 - 48 hours. Results from a CMV test or a Blood Typing and CMV test may be available in 72 hours.
• Prepayment for this service is required in most instances.

Special Collection Order form:

Sections A, B and C must be completed prior to the order being sent to the Special Collections department. Sections left incomplete may delay in the scheduling of the patient and/or donors. Physician's offices may call (408) 577-2000 to request a copy of this form.

Appointments and Unit Availability:

Units are normally drawn one week apart (however, they may be drawn as close together as 72 hours) and no later than 7 days before the date of need to allow adequate time for processing, testing, and shipping. Therefore, if 2 autologous units are requested, the physician order should be received about 4 weeks prior to the surgery to allow for a sufficient amount of time between appointments. Once a unit is drawn, it is normally available five (5) working days from the day of donation, unless repeat testing or additional processing is required. STAT processing is not available, however every effort will be made to accommodate the patient into the next available appointment time. Please keep these timeframes in mind when sending Special Collection orders as appointments may not be available if the order is received too close to the date of need.

IMPORTANT:

It is the responsibility of the patient to notify us if they will not be coming to their appointment(s) as scheduled. The physician's office must notify us if the surgery date has been changed or postponed, or if the transfusion service (hospital) has changed. Failure to do so may result in the collected units not being available for surgery.

We look forward to assisting in your care.

Appointments may be scheduled by calling (408)577-2000 or 1-800-669-4348.

Special Collection Order forms may be faxed to (408)577-2080 or 1-877-567-7700.