Clostridium difficile infections are associated with nearly 21,000 PA hospitalizations in 2005, according to a new research brief released on Friday (5/11) by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4). CDAD is a potentially life-threatening infection resulting from Clostridium difficile (often called C. diff), which is a spore-forming bacteria that can live in the intestine. The report does not distinguish between infections that are community-acquired or hospital-acquired.
In 2005, patients with CDAD were hospitalized two and a half times longer, charged more than twice as much and were four times as likely to die as patients without CDAD. Specifically, the mortality rates for patients with and without CDAD in 2005 were 8.7% and 2.1%, respectively. On average, patients with CDAD stayed in the hospital almost seven days longer than patients without CDAD. Whereas the average charge of a hospitalization with CDAD was $73,576, the average charge for a hospitalization without CDAD was $30,833.
Read full report: Clostridium difficile Infections in Pennsylvania Hospitals, PHC4 (5/11)