Nearly 12,000 Pa. Patients Got Infections

HARRISBURG, Pa. – More than 11,600 patients contracted infections during hospital stays in Pennsylvania last year – and nearly 1,800 of them died, according to a new report by a state agency that tracks health care trends.

Pennsylvania is one of at least a half-dozen states that require hospitals to report information on infections, and it is the first state to publicize its findings. Supporters of the reporting requirement have said collecting and analyzing the data would help hospitals improve cleanliness, potentially reducing both the number of infections that patients pick up and the cost of health insurance.

Hospital-acquired infections in Pennsylvania added $2 billion to hospital costs and extended hospital stays by 205,000 days last year, according to the report by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council.

“The deaths associated with those patients and the costs associated with those patients are astounding,” said Marc P. Volavka, the council’s executive director. “These numbers, even on their own, stand as a clarion cry to take action.”

Officials at the council said they suspect the actual incidence of infection is higher because of seeming inconsistencies in the quarterly reports on four types of infections that hospitals were required to file last year.

The report is the council’s first attempt to illustrate the problem since the state adopted reporting requirements in 2003. It is based on an analysis of nearly 1.6 million admissions to 173 general acute care hospitals in 2004.

Carolyn Scanlan, president and chief executive officer of the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, said the task of identifying hospital-acquired infections has been one of several challenges for hospitals.

“It’s not as clear-cut as one would like it to be, since individuals sometimes enter the hospital with infections,” Scanlan said.

The other states that require hospitals to report infections are Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska and Virginia.

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On the Net:

Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council: http://www.phc4.org/

Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania: http://www.haponline.org