New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation have posted the 2008 hospital-acquired infection rates the HHC website, (www.nyc.gov/hhc), as part of the public hospital system’s transparency initiative to voluntarily share information on hospital quality and safety with the public.
Infection rates in the intensive care units of the 11 HHC hospitals are down for the third year in a row. HHC achieved a 90% percent reduction in the rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and a 65% reduction in the rate of central line bloodstream infections among adult patients in intensive care units. Central line infections at HHC hospital ICUs dropped to 2.7 infections per 1,000 patient days in 2008 from 7.6 in 2005. Over the last four years, the rates of VAP dropped to 1.5 in 2008 from 10.5 in 2005.