Hospital-Acquired Infection (HAI) Rates in New York State Hospitals

Healthcare-associated infections are a major public health problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were an estimated 1.7 million healthcare-associated infections and 99,000 deaths from those infections in 2002 1. 1 A recent CDC report estimated the annual medical costs of healthcare-associated infections to U.S. hospitals to be between $28 and $45 billion, adjusted to 2007 dollars.2

In July, 2005, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed Public Health Law 2819 requiring hospitals to report select hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) to the New York State Department of Health. The legislation provided an initial "pilot phase" year (2007) to develop the reporting system; train hospitals on its use; standardize definitions, methods of surveillance and reporting; audit and validate the hospitals' infection data and modify the system to ensure that the hospital-identified infection rates would be fair, accurate and reliable. On June 30, 2008, the Department issued the pilot year report for 2007, as well as annual reports providing HAI rates identified by hospital released on June 30, 2009 and September 1, 2010.

The fourth annual report entitled "Hospital-Acquired Infections - New York State 2010" (PDF, 8.09MB, 134pg.) provides hospital-acquired infection rates by individual hospital, region, and NYS totals for 2010; and where available compares these rates to the most recent available national data (2006-2008). The infections selected for reporting in 2010 include colon surgical site infections, hip replacement surgical site infections, coronary artery bypass graft surgical site infections, central line-associated bloodstream infections in intensive care units (adult, pediatric and neonatal intensive care units) and umbilical catheter-associated infections in neonates. A new HAI indicator is included in this report for Clostridium difficile infection rates occurring on admission and during a patients hospital stay. The report also contains updated information on infection control resources in NYS hospitals and describes progress of HAI prevention projects supported by the Department.

References

  1. Klevens RM, Edwards JR, Horan TC, Gaynes RP, Pollack DA, Cardo DM. Estimating health care-associated infections and deaths in U.S. hospitals, 2002. Public Health Reports 2007;122:160-166.
  2. Scott RD. The Direct Medical Costs of Healthcare-Associated Infections in U.S. Hospitals and the Benefits of Prevention, 2009. (accessed April 7, 2009) URL: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/pdf/Scott_CostPaper.pdf

Previous Reports 2007, 2008 and 2009