The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority issued its 2009 Annual Report containing healthcare-associated infection (HAI) data from nursing homes and hospitals. Pennsylvania is the only state in the nation to collect such comprehensive infection data from long-term care facilities.
Reporting began in June 2009 and in October 2009 the Authority provided nursing homes with analytical tools to study their infection data. Nursing homes are able to run real-time facility-specific reports for all categories of infections so they can identify trends and investigate risk factors for HAIs and their residents. The facilities can easily generate a selection of tables and charts to produce infection rates and raw data tables by date range, facility, care area and HAI subcategories.
The 2009 Annual Report also contains infection data from hospitals and ambulatory surgical facilities. The Authority has collected infection data from Pennsylvania hospitals since June 2004 through the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System (PA-PSRS). In 2007, a new law was passed making it mandatory for hospitals to report HAIs through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). The Authority also developed a Healthcare-Associated Infection Advisory Panel to assist Pennsylvania agencies with implementation of the new law. Since February 2008 hospitals have submitted data through NHSN. The Authority has access to the reports in NHSN and analyzes them for its educational purposes.