The SC Department of Health and Environmental Control posted its report on hospital infections for the most recent six months. Hospital infections are a major public health problem in the United States. These infections are often called healthcare-associated infections. Patients can get them from routine care, surgery, as a complication from medical devices such as ventilators, catheters, and lines, or as a side effect of the overuse of antibiotics. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1.7 million healthcare-associated infections occur in U.S. medical facilities each year. These infections result in as many as 99,000 deaths and nearly $20 billion in additional healthcare costs annually. (The estimates are based on 2002 data.).
In the States, there is a growing movement in medicine that no longer accepts hospital-acquired-infections. There are signs of improvement. Already, 26 states have voted legislation obliging their hospital to publicly report their rate of infection. Starting in 2009, Medicare, the US government's health insurance program for elderly and disabled Americans, will not cover the costs of "preventable" conditions, mistakes and infections resulting from a hospital stay. The hosptal itself will have to cover the costs. It will give hospital a strong incentive to inforce strict prevention and control measures.
It should always be reminded that hospital-acquired-infections are preventable and that the measures to prevent them do not need extravagant and costly research - they just have to be reinforced and applied. The cost of prevention is far less expensive than the cost for treating these infection
Source: SC now.com, August 19, 2009
For more information
RID, Reduce Infection Deaths Committee: the cost of hospital-acquired-infections
WHO: Prevention guide, 2008
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