SALISBURY TWP., Pa. — Miller-Keystone Blood Center, in an email to staff Wednesday, said Lehigh Valley Health Network never discussed its decision to replace the center as its primary blood supplier before announcing it.
Miller-Keystone Chief Executive Officer Peter Castagna said in the email that “the secondary supplier was never discussed with MKBC up until the press was notified by LVHN of the change, despite conversations and communications with LVHN executives including LVHN’s President & CEO.”
"We are disappointed in LVHN’s decision and how they have misrepresented the actual events along with their refusal to engage with MKBC at any point in continuing the relationship we have shared for over half a century,” Castagna said.
The statement came in what Castagna in the email listed as a “summary of claims” from LVHN, with explanations from Miller-Keystone's point of view.
At the time of the original announcement, Castagna said he was unaware of the change in providers for the network. LVHN makes up about 20% of the center’s total business and was one of the founding institutions behind its start.
“It is our obligation to set the record straight."Peter Castagna, President and CEO, Miller-Keystone Blood Center
“It is our obligation to set the record straight, as we have been a loyal and dedicated partner of LVHN for five decades,” Castagna wrote in the email.
“You deserve to know the truth.”
No other hospital to supply
In the beginning of February, LVHN announced it no longer will use Miller-Keystone Blood Center as its primary blood supplier come the new fiscal year.
It instead will get the majority of the product from the American Red Cross and use Miller-Keystone as a secondary source.
"They're not our primary supplier.”LVHN Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Thomas Marchozzi
"We're not ending our relationship with Miller-Keystone, we value the relationship and we want to continue it," LVHN Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Thomas Marchozzi said then.
"It's just they're not our primary supplier.”
LVHN’s new contract is expected to go into effect on July 1.
Castagna has said in the past that if LVHN does not use it as its primary source for blood, it doesn't have other hospitals interested in its supply.
Miller-Keystone Blood Center is a nonprofit community blood center that was founded in 1971. It provided blood products and transfusion services to 35 hospitals in Eastern & Northeastern Pennsylvania and Western New Jersey.
Read the full email here:
