Hospital Disinfectant

Healthcare associated infections (HAIs) are the number four cause of death in the United States, exceeding the combined mortality of breast cancer, AIDS and traffic accidents. In a 2008 article, the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, estimated that hospital acquired infections add an average of $15,000 to the cost of care which puts a total cost of infections in the U.S. around $40 billion a year. This cost is in addition to the suffering caused with more than 2 million infections a year, over 150,000 deaths and millions of extra days spent in the hospital.

Of equal concern are the evolving antibiotic resistant strains of microorganisms such as Methicillin-resistant Staphhylococcus aureas (MRSA) and Acinetobacter spp, which are making the resulting mortality of a healthcare associated infection greater than ever.

The result has been increased public pressure, and legislative initiatives, holding hospitals accountable for these increased costs. In October of 2008, Medicaid approved a policy to no longer reimburse hospitals for certain preventable errors (including some types of infections) and Medicare is reserving the right to further expand the list. Private insurers are following this lead.

One recent study found that 59% of environmental surfaces were contaminated with MRSA in affected patients’ rooms. Yet a rigorous environmental cleaning intervention can reduce the transmission of MRSA and other multidrug-resistant organisms in hospital intensive care units. Read the Test Summary Here

In a recent study conducted at Nashville General Hospital Acinetobacter spp HAI infections were reduced by 95%.  Read the Nashville General Hospital Study Here

Sources:

McCaughey, B. (2008). Unnecessary Deaths: The Human and Financial Costs of Hospital Infections. (p. 70). Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths.

Mitka, M. (2008). Public, Private Insurers Refusing to Pay Hospitals for Costs of Avoidable Errors. JAMA, 299(21), 2495-2496. doi: 10.1001/jama.299.21.2495.

Otter, JA, Havill NL, Adams NMT, Boyce, JM. Extensive environmental contamination associated with patients with Staphylococcus aureus colonization. Presented at SHEA annual meeting, 2006.

Study released by SHEA March 2009 and funded by CDC Prevention Epicenters program with grant from the National Institutes of Health