Can a Reduction in Hospital Acquired Infections Cut Health Care Costs?

There is no denying that hospital acquired infections (HAIs) are an expensive drain on the system and impact the lives of an estimated 1.7 million hospital patients a year – killing nearly 99,000 annually. Is it possible that simply instituting best practices in infection control can substantially reduce these infections and save the nation’s healthcare system billions of dollars a year?  Yes, according to an article in last week’s Roll Call by Ramanan Laxminarayan of the Extending the Cure initiative, a Pioneer grantee, and Ed Septimus from HCA Healthcare System.  Laxminarayan and Septimus propose several ideas and incentives, which they believe will reduce the rate of resistant HAIs and control the rise of antibiotic resistance. 

Are hospital acquired infections really the low hanging fruit that will benefit patients and cut health care costs?  Check out the article and then come back here and let us know what you think.   

 

Comments

[Michael Bennett]

Congratulations to Dr. Laxminarayan and Dr. Septimus for stepping out front on the national crisis of antibiotic resistance and hospital-spread disease.

For decades, healthcare leadership adopted a nihilistic attitude toward resistant pathogens, such as MRSA and VRE, even as the rates of infections caused by these lethal bacterium steadily increased.

Dr. Laxminarayan, on the other hand, has worked arduously for more than a decade to bring attention to this preventable epidemic and to offer evidence-based best practices for controlling their spread and to preserve the effectiveness of the antimicrobial armamentarium.

HCA has been in the forefront of implementing best practices to control the most egregiously out-of-control hospital bug, MRSA. Like the VA system, more than a year ago HCA began the process of routine screening and contact isolation for all patients colonized or infected with MRSA in HCA facilities. Clearly, HCA understood that active detection and isolation (ADI) works and that saving lives through effective infection control is vital and clearly in the economic interest of their institutions.

Are HAIs "low hanging fruit" that can largely be prevented saving countless lives and preventing untold suffering while simultaneously being economically beneficial? After having been active on this issue since the death of my father from at least six HAIs five years ago, I can confidently say without a shred of doubt, yes!

All agree healthcare needs reform. Healthcare policy meaningfully influenced by leaders such as Laxminarayan and Septimus can significantly contribute toward making our healthcare system what it should always have been and what it most certainly can be.

Michael Bennett
President
The Coalition For Patients' Rights