The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment released the first Health Facility Acquired Infections Bulletin. The bulletin contains hospital-specific infection rates for central line associated bloodstream infections occurring in adult intensive care units.
The bulletin displays the first six months of data collected from the new reporting system implemented on July 31, 2007.
Colorado’s Hospital-Acquired Infections Disclosure Act (House Bill 06-1045) was approved in June 2006. Hospital-acquired infections are infections that occur during or after treatment for a separate medical condition. Although many hospitals collected and tracked infection data before the law was implemented, the new reporting system will ensure hospitals and other facility types are using the same definitions and data constraints so the information can be compared to national rates.
This is the first report to contain data from the new reporting system. Two more reports will be developed this year. Another report concerning central line associated bloodstream infections, focusing on newborns, will be available this fall. The annual report will be published by January 15, 2009, and will contain information on surgical site infections and central line associated bloodstream infections.
This bulletin and future reports are available online at https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/health-care-facility-infection-data.