Fact Sheet Details the Prevalence and Impact of Hospital-acquired Infections in Upstate New York

ROCHESTER, NY (10/30/2007)(readMedia)-- An estimated 19,500 upstate New Yorkers acquired an infection during a hospital stay in 2004 and nearly a thousand deaths were likely to have occurred as a result, according to an Excellus BlueCross BlueShield analysis of hospital admissions data and projections from a national study on hospital-acquired infections. The impact on health care spending that year was projected at $157 million.

Titled The Facts About Hospital-acquired Infections in Upstate New York (October 2007), the Excellus BCBS fact sheet summarizes data from sources including the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention; The World Health Organization; Consumers Union; and The Joint Commission, an independent, not-for-profit organization that certifies nearly 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States.

Among the findings:

  • Five of every 100 patients admitted to the hospital will get a hospital-acquired infection (HAI) and about five percent of those people will die from complications attributed to that infection.
  • HAIs cut into hospitals’ net inpatient operating margins by as much as 63 percent.
  • Patients with HAIs average an additional 8.7 days of hospital treatment adding an average $14,000 to their hospital bills.
  • Care for patients with HAIs challenges the system to most appropriately use finite resources.

In 2005 New York State adopted a law requiring public reporting of hospital-acquired infection rates, with the first reports due to be published in mid-2008.

The federal government has already moved beyond just reporting. Starting in 2008, hospitals will no longer be paid by Medicare for taking care of two types of infections that patients acquire in the hospital, nor will hospitals be allowed to bill patients for care related to these HAIs.

To access the Fact Sheet, go to http://www.excellusbcbs.com, click on “Public Policy & Research,” and then “Fact Sheets.”

-0-

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, a nonprofit independent licensee of the BlueCross BlueShield Association, is part of a family of companies that finances and delivers vital health care services to 2 million people across upstate New York. Excellus BlueCross BlueShield provides access to high-quality, affordable health coverage, including valuable health-related resources that our members use every day, such as cost-saving prescription drug discounts and wellness tracking tools in our Step Up program. To learn more, visit http://www.excellusbcbs.com.

-30-