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Report: Infection rates worsen in U.S. hospitals

Quality Improvement Monitor, May 5, 2005

Hospital-acquired infections continue to be one of the major threats to patient safety in the United States, according to a report issued May 2.

"Hospital-acquired infection rates worsened by approximately 20% from 2000 to 2003 and accounted for 9,552 deaths and $2.6 billion, almost 30% of the total excess cost related to the patient safety incidents," Health Grades Inc. said in its report.

Many of the hospital-acquired infections could include antibiotic-resistant bacteria, making it difficult for healthcare workers to treat the infections with traditional medications.

The Health Grades report found more than 300,000 patients died after suffering some sort of adverse, hospital-related incident in 2001, 2002, and 2003.

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