Lawmakers in New Hampshire want the commissioner of Health and Human Services to explain why the state is not enforcing a law requiring the public reporting of hospital-acquired infection rates.
The legislation, which was passed two years ago, requires hospitals to submit reports within six months of the effective date whether or not the department has established (an infection) reporting system. The first reports were to be filed by December 31, 2007, but this has not occured.
UnionLeader.com reports that State Rep. Peter Batula, R-Merrimack, and David Hess, R-Hooksett, the legislation’s co-sponsors, believe hospitals should be reporting to the state for public dissemination even though the funding was taken out of the law, which was passed two years ago.
Lawmakers say funding was removed from the law because of lobbying by the New Hampshire Hospital Association against the reporting of hospital-acquired infections.