President's Message
By: Ruben Honik, Esq.
November 15, 2006

Hospital infection report a wake-up call for patient safety

(11-15-2006) - Big news yesterday from Harrisburg: An independent state agency issued a first-of-its kind report on infections acquired by patients at Pennsylvania's 168 individual hospitals. The report, which was released by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PCH4), examines 1.6 million hospitalizations and may be the first in the country to break down how many infections occur at individual hospitals around the state.

Some of the highlights are:

*Hospitals reported 19,154 cases in which patients contracted a hospital-acquired infection, a rate of 12.2 per 1,000 cases.

*The death rate for patients with a hospital-acquired infection was 12.9%; the death rate for patients without a hospital-acquired infection was 2.3%. The death soared to 24.8%, 20.8%, and 23.5% if the infections were pneumonia, in the blood stream, or involved multiple infections respectively.

Aside from the lives lost, the report lists the costs of these infections in terms of hospital stays and charges. Overall:

*The hospitalizations in which these infections occurred amounted to 394,129 hospital days and $3.5 billion in hospital charges.

*The average length of stay for patients with a hospital-acquired infection was 20.6 days; the average length of stay for patients without a hospital-acquired infection was 4.5 days.

*The average hospital charge for patients with a hospital-acquired infection was $185,260; the average charge for patients without a hospital-acquired infection was $31,389.

Hospitalizations in which these infections occurred amounted to $82 million in commercial insurance payments. The average commercial insurance payment for a hospital case without an infection was $8,311 versus $53,915 for a hospital-acquired infection.

This report is a wake-up call for patient safety. The report concludes: "A hospital-acquired infection is an infection that a patients contract while hospitalized. At the time of admission, the infection would not have been either present or developing. Hospital-acquired infects represent a direct threat to patient safety and health care quality. They are life threatening and costly."

The report has re-opened the dialogue on patient safety, an issue that your association staunchly advocates. For too long, the medical community has been reluctant to seriously confront the epidemic of preventable medical errors.

We will disseminate the important data contained in this report and continue to push for legislative changes and other reforms that advance patient safety and preserve access to the civil justice system for those that are harmed by preventable medical errors.