Bill would require more data from hospitals

Proposal targets infections patients get while staying at S.C. facilities

By RODDIE BURRIS

rburris@thestate.com

Hospitals and other surgical facilities would have to collect data on hospital-acquired infections — and that information would be public — under a bill set to be taken up by a Senate panel today.

Statistics on clinical procedures that range from relatively benign surgical site infections to the often-deadly ventilator-associated pneumonia would be compiled by the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Health experts say acquired infections are a serious and growing problem that causes deaths, raises hospital costs for patients, taxpayers and private insurance companies, and lengthens hospital stays.

Currently, hospitals in South Carolina may collect such data, primarily for billing purposes, and report acquired infections to such federal agencies as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Certain acquired infections also are reported to DHEC — those that lead to a death, for instance — but there are no requirements for hospitals to make their infection rates public.

“We’re not trying to embarrass anybody, but the only way to improve this is if it becomes public,” said Sen. Ralph Anderson, D-Greenville, sponsor of the bill.

It is unclear how much support or opposition Anderson’s bill will attract. Spokeswomen for Palmetto Health in Columbia and Lexington Medical Center in West Columbia said their hospitals were studying the matter and had not taken a position.

The S.C. Hospital Association has not taken a position, either, but supports the concept, said Patti Smoake, a trade group spokeswoman.

“We certainly support the public’s right to valid information,” she said. “Hospitals in the state are doing all they can to lower hospital infections.”

Five percent to 10 percent of patients in S.C. and other states acquire infections, she said.

Anderson’s measure also is racing against the clock. May 1 is the deadline for bills to cross over from one chamber to the other without the requirement of a two-thirds vote just to be heard.

Some information on hospital performance already is available publicly.

About 87 percent of hospitals in the state participate in a federal Health and Human Services initiative to compare hospitals’ performance procedures in treating conditions such as heart attack, pneumonia, heart failure and surgical infection.

Some efforts at disclosure are under way nationally, too.

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., recently proposed federal mandatory reporting legislation for hospitals. And Congress recently took testimony from the CDC and others on hospital-acquired infections.

Anderson cited national statistics that show about one in 10 hospital patients will acquire an infection after reaching the facility, resulting in 90,000 deaths, lengthening a stay by up to 8.2 days, at an added cost of up to $135,000 per patient.

Ventilator-assisted pneumonia is the leading killer among all hospital-acquired infections, statistics show.

All S.C. hospitals participate in a national initiative to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia deaths, called the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s 100,000 Lives Campaign.

The first S.C. report of infections acquired by patients while being treated for other medical problems will be due July 1, 2007, if the bill becomes law. That would give medical facilities an opportunity to improve first, Anderson said.