11-09-2007
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In January 2004, Pennsylvania hospitals began submitting data on hospital-acquired infections to the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4). While concerns remain about whether all hospitals are fully complying with this new initiative, the fi rst year of data collected provides some eye-opening information for all parties involved in the delivery and payment of hospital care. In 2004, hospitals reported 11,668 hospital-acquired infections, that is, 7.5 hospital-acquired infections per 1,000 patients admitted to Pennsylvania’s general acute care hospitals. 15.4 percent or 1,793 of these patients died. $2 billion in additional hospital charges and 205,000 additional hospital days were associated with the hospital admissions in which these devastating infections occurred. However, until all Pennsylvania hospitals have met the current PHC4 reporting requirements for hospital-acquired infection data, the full impact of these infections remains unknown.