Our hypothesis is that a transfusion trigger of Hgb 7.5 g/dl will lead to decreased utilization of blood transfusions and will have many positive effects on the patients post cardiac surgery in addition to substantial cost savings. We will use an evidence based approach to observe the relative safety of a conservative transfusion trigger (7.5 g/dl) as compared to a more liberal trigger (9.0 g/dl). We will also study the effect of blood conservation on the incidence of transfusion-related complications such as transfusion related lung injury (TRALI) and infectious complications as well as length of hospital stay, cost and ventilator time.