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Leapfrog: 87% of hospitals don't have procedures to prevent infections

Quality Improvement Monitor, September 14, 2007

Eighty-seven percent of hospitals surveyed by the Leapfrog Group do not have recommended policies in place to prevent some of the most common hospital-acquired infections, according to findings issued this week.

The results came from an analysis of 1,256 hospitals that participate in the Leapfrog Hospital Quality and Safety Survey, according to a press release by the Leapfrog Group. Each year 2 million - one out of every 20 who obtain care at an American hospital - contract an infection during their care; 90,000 of them die, the press release said. On average, so-called hospital acquired infections (HAI) add more than $15,000 to a patient's hospital bill, amounting to more than $30 billion a year wasted on avoidable costs.

In August, CMS announced that Medicare will no longer pay for the additional costs incurred for eight hospital-acquired conditions. A full analysis of the data gathered from this year's Leapfrog Hospital Quality and Safety Survey will be released September 18.

For more information, click here.

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