Results Questioned
According to Carolyn Scanlan, president and CEO of the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, the number of infections that the study found through the use of billing data does not account for infections patients had before they entered hospitals (Wall Street Journal, 7/13). In a letter to PHCCCC, Scanlan said the study "implies that all the deaths (and all costs and additional hospital days for patients with reported hospital-acquired infections) were directly related to the hospital-acquired infection" (Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/13). Nancy Foster of the American Hospital Association said, "Hospitals want to share good, reliable information that doesn't overstate or understate the infection problem" (USA Today, 7/13). Volavka said an infectious disease specialist worked with PHCCCC to eliminate infections from the study that patients developed before they entered hospitals. Pennsylvania is the first state to collect data on hospital-acquired infections, as required by a state law enacted last year. Several other states have laws that require hospitals to report data of infections, and 30 more have considered such legislation (Washington Post, 7/13).

Additional Comments
CMS Administrator Mark McClellan said, "The Pennsylvania report is more evidence that there are opportunities to improve quality, reduce cost and, most importantly, save lives through initiatives to reduce hospital infections" (USA Today, 7/13). Volavka said the study indicates "that the cost and quality implications for potentially preventable hospital infections are astounding" (Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/13). He added, "These numbers, even on their own, stand as a clarion cry to take action" (Raffaele, AP/Las Vegas Sun, 7/13). Scanlan said, "The optimal goal would be to get hospital-acquired infections to zero, but nowhere in the literature does anyone indicate how fast or how to get there." Paul O'Neill, former Treasury Secretary and an advocate of health care quality initiatives, said, "This is a day for real celebration that we finally have a major state with a substantial characterization of things that are going wrong in the health and medical care business" (Wall Street Journal, 7/13). The study is available online. Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the study.

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