Twenty-three states require hospitals to publicly report on health care-associated infections, including three that collect data on methicillin-resistant staph infections, according to a report released today by the Government Accountability Office, reports AHA News Now. Most of the states focus on a few measures developed or endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and use the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network to collect data. In comments to GAO included in the report, AHA expressed concern that the HAI data collected through NHSN does not provide a valid comparative assessment of hospital performance, noting that the data submitted are not validated and hospitals vary in how they collect it. In addition to states, GAO reviewed 14 diverse hospitals and health systems with MRSA reduction initiatives. All of them routinely tested for MRSA, but used varying testing methods, tested different patient populations, and needed varying levels of funding and staff to implement their initiatives.
Read more on this topic on ModernHealthcare.com – GAO study questions validity of infection-reporting methods