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State lawmakers target hospital infections

Quality Improvement Monitor, March 16, 2007

The high number of lethal infections in U.S. hospitals has prompted medical staffs and state lawmakers to focus on better awareness and take steps to reduce their spread, according to the Washington Times.
    "For too long" hospitals and dialysis centers "have kept patient infections a dirty secret," Lisa McGiffert, director of Consumer Union's Stop Hospital Infections campaign, told the Times. "But now, more states are moving to make infection rates public, so consumers can make smarter health care choices, and hospitals have a stronger incentive to improve patient care."
    Pennsylvania is one of the few states that require each hospital to report its number of infections. To date, 16 states, including Maryland and Virginia, have enacted laws requiring some level of reporting on patient infections, according to StopHospitalInfections.org.
    Hospital infection reporting bills are being considered by lawmakers in 12 other states, according to the Times.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20070308-115038-7792r.htm

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