CConsumer Reports and the Leapfrog Group have released quality data on central-line infections for intensive-care units, at 926 hospitals in 43 states. CLABSI data for ICUs is voluntarily reported by some hospitals to the leapfrog Group. State reports include Colorado, Delaware, Maine, Missouri, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia
The hospital infection rate shows how well each hospital performed compared with the national average for its mix of ICUs (cardiac, surgical, etc.). Analysis adjusts for the fact that Leapfrog and the states have data from varying mixtures of ICUs, requiring comparisons to different average infection rates. For instance, the average infection rate for cardiac ICUs nationwide is 2 per 1,000 central-line days, while surgical ICUs average 2.3 infections per 1,000 central-line days. So an infection rate 100 percent above average would be 4 per 1,000 days for a cardiac ICU, but 4.6 per 1,000 days for a surgical ICU.