Central Jersey and Lehigh Valley Blood Centers to Merge Operations

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SHREWSBURY – Officials of Central Jersey Blood Center (CJBC) and Miller-Keystone Blood Center, Bethlehem, Pa., and Shrewsbury, announced that they have entered into an agreement to pursue a formal merger. The combined entity currently provides 165,000 blood products annually to hospitals in Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
“Miller-Keystone Blood Center has a long history of outstanding service and growth in the region, and shares a deep-rooted community connection with Central Jersey Blood Center,” said MKBC President and CEO Pete Castagna. “Our donors, volunteers, employees and hospital customers understand that special bond that has enabled the center to continue to meet the needs of our community.”
“Central Jersey Blood Center is a very healthy organization with dedicated staff and donors,” added Pascal George, CJBC President and CEO. “This is the right time for us to enter an alliance which will be better equipped to face the profound changes affecting our industry while further enhancing the value we bring to our hospitals. Both organizations have progressive cultures and we expect to gain efficiencies and regional visibility while retaining our local brands.”
Castagna and George both stressed that the two regional centers remain committed to their local communities and meeting their blood needs.
“This collaboration reflects recent national consolidation trends within the health care industry,” said Castagna.
 
 
 
“The past few years have significantly challenged organizations that provide services to hospitals and health care systems, creating the need to respond to this changing marketplace,” he said. “Our objective is to create a competitive force in the blood services field, dedicated to providing our hospital customers and their patients with the highest quality of blood products and services.”
“The union will improve blood recruitment efforts and enhance the availability and utilization of the region’s blood supply,” explained George. “Both Central Jersey and Miller-Keystone believe that the joining of our functions will achieve cost savings through economies of scale, joint blood recruitment and collection, shared access to quality assurance programs, and a common data enterprise system.”
Established in 1971, Miller-Keystone Blood Center is an ISO9001 certified organization that serves as the sole-source blood provider to 26 hospitals in 12 Pennsylvania and New Jersey counties. MKBC is comprised of five donor centers supported by more than 2,000 bloodmobile site visits each year, providing over 125,000 blood products annually.
Central Jersey Blood Center is a community-based, nonprofit blood collection and distribution organization that has been serving New Jersey residents for almost 50 years. CJBC operates three donor centers supported by 430 annual bloodmobile drives, and serves 16 hospitals in six counties, providing more than 38,000 blood products each year.