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PA hospital infections cost extra $2 billion in 2004

Quality Improvement Monitor, July 14, 2005

Nearly 12,000 patients in Pennsylvania contracted infections during a hospital stay in 2004, leading to an additional $2 billion in costs and about 1,500 deaths, according to figures released July 12 in the nation's first comprehensive statewide report on hospital-acquired infections.

Pennsylvania began requiring hospitals last year to report infection data in four categories: surgical, bloodstream, pneumonia and urinary tract, according to The Washington Post. At 32%, the mortality rate was highest for patients who developed pneumonia while using a ventilator.

Urinary tract infections acquired while using a catheter were the most common, the report said. Pennsylvania hospitals spent an average of $29,000 to treat a patient who developed an infection, compared with $8,300 to treat those who did not, the Post reported.

The actual infection rate could be much higher, around the 115,000-patient mark, Marc Volavka, executive director of the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, told the Post. Many hospitals may have underreported, based on billing claims submitted to insurers, he said.

"Pennsylvania is 4% of the population, which means you may have an additional 100 people dying per day" nationwide because of infections, Volavka told the Post. "That comes to an additional $50 billion [in national medical costs]."

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