diff --git a/cmake/configure_files/lbann_config.hpp.in b/cmake/configure_files/lbann_config.hpp.in
index dc98826adf4..c9fc5a17575 100644
--- a/cmake/configure_files/lbann_config.hpp.in
+++ b/cmake/configure_files/lbann_config.hpp.in
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@
 #cmakedefine LBANN_HAS_SHMEM
 #cmakedefine LBANN_HAS_LARGESCALE_NODE2VEC
 #cmakedefine LBANN_HAS_ONNX
+#cmakedefine LBANN_BUILT_WITH_SPECTRUM
 
 #cmakedefine LBANN_DETERMINISTIC
 
diff --git a/src/data_ingestion/readers/data_reader_python_dataset.cpp b/src/data_ingestion/readers/data_reader_python_dataset.cpp
index eda22946391..c2b70a01390 100644
--- a/src/data_ingestion/readers/data_reader_python_dataset.cpp
+++ b/src/data_ingestion/readers/data_reader_python_dataset.cpp
@@ -171,7 +171,6 @@ void python_dataset_reader::shuffle_responses(DataType* responses_ptr)
   // in a batch that can't be split evenly will be split evenly across the
   // first n ranks (or subsets of ranks in the distconv case).
 
-  MPI_Comm trainer_comm = m_comm->get_trainer_comm().GetMPIComm();
   uint64_t rank = m_comm->get_rank_in_trainer();
   uint64_t nprocs = m_comm->get_procs_per_trainer();
   uint64_t trainer_rank = m_comm->get_trainer_rank();
@@ -188,7 +187,7 @@ void python_dataset_reader::shuffle_responses(DataType* responses_ptr)
   uint64_t distconv_extra_samples =
     global_mb_size % (nprocs / num_io_partitions);
 
-    uint64_t send_rank, recv_rank, send_rank_count, recv_rank_count;
+  uint64_t send_rank, recv_rank, send_rank_count, recv_rank_count;
   send_rank = recv_rank = send_rank_count = recv_rank_count = 0;
   uint64_t send_rank_max_count =
     local_distconv_mb_size + (distconv_extra_samples > 0);
@@ -201,24 +200,29 @@ void python_dataset_reader::shuffle_responses(DataType* responses_ptr)
                     m_num_responses * sizeof(DataType));
       }
       else {
+#ifdef LBANN_BUILT_WITH_SPECTRUM
+        // Due to a potential bug in Spectrum MPI's send, we must use ssend to
+        // avoid hangs.
         EL_CHECK_MPI_CALL(
           MPI_Ssend(&responses_ptr[send_rank_count * m_num_responses],
                     m_num_responses * sizeof(DataType),
                     MPI_BYTE,
-                    recv_rank,
+                    m_comm->get_world_rank(trainer_rank, recv_rank),
                     0,
-                    trainer_comm));
+                    m_comm->get_world_comm().GetMPIComm()));
+#else
+        m_comm->send(&responses_ptr[send_rank_count * m_num_responses],
+                     m_num_responses,
+                     trainer_rank,
+                     recv_rank);
+#endif
       }
     }
     else if (rank == recv_rank) {
-      EL_CHECK_MPI_CALL(
-        MPI_Recv(&responses_ptr[send_rank_count * m_num_responses],
-                 m_num_responses * sizeof(DataType),
-                 MPI_BYTE,
-                 send_rank,
-                 0,
-                 trainer_comm,
-                 MPI_STATUS_IGNORE));
+      m_comm->recv(&responses_ptr[recv_rank_count * m_num_responses],
+                   m_num_responses,
+                   trainer_rank,
+                   send_rank);
     }
 
     send_rank_count += 1;