First-Ever State Report On Hospital Acquired Infections

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First-Ever State Report On Hospital Acquired Infections Shows Staggering Costs in Lives and Dollars


$2 Billion in Health Care Costs, over 11,600 Patients Affected By Infections in Pennsylvania in 2004

Philadelphia, Pa – A groundbreaking report released by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) shows that Pennsylvania hospitals reported more than 11,600 patients got infections in 2004 while seeking medical care. These infections—often the result of inadequate sanitary practices or failure to use effective prevention procedures—led to the death of 1,793 patients in the state.

PHC4’s report is the first in the nation to use hospital-specific data to publicize the number of hospital acquired infections and their impact on patients. The independent agency was created by the Pennsylvania Legislature in the 1980s, and gathers and analyzes data from the health care industry in Pennsylvania.



“Until now, we could only guess how many patients suffered from hospital acquired infections in Pennsylvania or any other state,” said Beth McConnell, director of the Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group Education Fund (PennPIRG Education Fund). “Now for the first time in the U.S., PHC4 has published concrete data collected from hospitals that tell us how widespread hospital acquired infections are in Pennsylvania. By shining the spotlight on this serious patient safety issue, we hope this report will help lead to improved infection control practices in Pennsylvania and beyond."

Consumer groups pointed out that the extent of the hospital infection problem in Pennsylvania is no doubt worse than what has been documented by PHC4 in their report. The agency has acknowledged that a number of hospitals failed to disclose sufficient information about their safety records. PHC4 specifically pointed out that sixteen hospitals—including several large facilities—reported no infections, while just 29 hospitals reported more than half of the infections. In addition, while hospitals reported a total of 11,668 infections they billed insurers for 115,631 patient-related infections during the same time period, according to PHC4. “This demonstrates that while some hospitals are making a good faith effort to comply with the reporting rules, there are still many hospitals that haven’t done due diligence,” said McConnell.

http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_health_care/002490.html?AddInterest=1087