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CDC offers guidance on reporting infection data

Quality Improvement Monitor, March 3, 2005

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) on February 28 released recommendations for policymakers who are seeking to create mandatory public reporting systems of healthcare-associated infections.

Four states-Illinois, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Florida-have passed laws requiring hospitals to publicly report healthcare-associated infections. An additional 30 states plan to pursue mandatory public release of this information.

While HICPAC concluded there is currently not enough evidence to determine whether mandatory public reporting of healthcare-associated infections will reduce infection rates, the advisory committee recommended that states implementing public reporting should strive to gather meaningful infection control data and use nationally recommended infection control measures.

To provide consumers and healthcare facilities with the best information, HICPAC recommends that states that are developing public reporting systems

  • use established public health surveillance methods
  • involve people with infection control expertise in the process
  • track practices that prevent infections, in addition to measuring infection rates
  • provide regular and confidential feedback to healthcare providers

"The goal of mandatory reporting is to provide consumers with information they can use to make informed healthcare choices," said Denise Cardo, MD, director of CDC's Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. "We don't know yet if public reporting will reduce the number of infections, but we do support collecting information that can lead to improvements in patient safety."

The CDC estimates that each year nearly 2 million patients in the United States contract infections in hospitals and about 90,000  die as a result of their infection. Bloodstream infections, urinary tract infections, pneumonia, and surgical site infections comprise most of all healthcare-associated infections.

The percentage of healthcare-associated infections that are preventable is unknown, but the CDC believes that following recommended infection control strategies can reduce infections substantially.

To view the guidance document, visit the CDC's www.cdc.gov/ncidod/hip/PublicReportingGuide.pdf.

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