AHA asks HHS to add infection reporting measures

AHA Newswrites: In comments submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services, the AHA again urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to include two infection reporting measures in its pay-for-reporting program: infection rates for surgical site infections and central line catheter-associated blood stream infections. Both measures were adopted by the Hospital Quality Alliance in 2008. Commenting on HHS activities to prevent healthcare-associated infections, AHA also urged the department to limit its targets and metrics to goals and objectives adopted by the National Quality Forum National Priorities Partners, a public-private partnership dedicated to quality improvement and measurement. The association urged HHS to develop a common data platform based on Hospital Compare for its hospital data reporting programs to “eliminate reporting redundancy and ensure that data element definitions and formats are standardized.” It also encouraged HHS to study the “human and organizational factors affecting the adoption of effective infection control and prevention interventions.”