Report: Hospital-acquired Infections Dropped in 2007

A report by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) shows that the rates of hospital-acquired infections in PA hospitals declined in 2007 by about 8 percent. According to the report, infections decreased from a reported 30,237 in 2006, to 27,949 in 2007. That 2007 rate is about 19.2 infections for every 1,000 patients. PHC4’s detailed analysis also discovered that infection rates for Urinary Tract Infections (UTI), Bloodstream Infections, Pneumonia, and Surgical Site Infections all dropped significantly, while Gastrointestinal Infections stayed about the same. Spokesperson Stephanie Suran says the report does not pinpoint the reason for this drop, but she believes it is due to hospitals’ more stringent focus on infection prevention. The full report is available at http://www.phc4.org.