HHS Awards $17 Million in a New National Initiative to Fight Health Care-Associated Infections

HHS.gov ^ | Last revised October 23, 2009 | n/a

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:

News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, October 23, 2009

HHS Awards $17 Million in a New National Initiative to Fight Health Care-Associated Infections

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced the award of $17 million to fund projects to fight costly and dangerous health care-associated infections, or HAIs.

“When patients go to the hospital, they expect to get better, not worse,” Secretary Sebelius said. “Eliminating infections is critical to making care safer for patients and to improving the overall quality and safety of the health care system. We know that it can be done, and this new initiative will help us reach our goal.”

HAIs are one of the most common complications of hospital care. Nearly 2 million patients develop HAIs, which contribute to 99,000 deaths each year and $28 billion to $33 billion in health care costs. HAIs are caused by different types of bacteria that infect patients being treated in a hospital or health care setting for other conditions. The most common HAI-causing bacteria is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. The number of MRSA-associated hospital stays has more than tripled since 2000, reaching 368,600 in 2005, according to HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project.

Of the $17 million, $8 million will fund a national expansion of the Keystone Project, which within 18 months successfully reduced the rate of central-line blood stream infections in more than 100 Michigan intensive care units and saved 1,500 lives and $200 million. The project was originally started by the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the Michigan Health & Hospital Association to implement a comprehensive unit-based safety program. The program involves using a checklist of evidence-based safety practices; staff training and other tools for preventing infections that can be implemented in hospital units; standard and consistent measurement of infection rates; and tools to improve teamwork among doctors, nurses and hospital leaders.

Last year, AHRQ funded an expansion of this project to 10 states. With additional funding from AHRQ and a private foundation, the Keystone Project is now operating in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. The new funding announced today will expand the effort to more hospitals, extend it to other settings in addition to ICUs, and broaden the focus to address other types of infections. Specifically, the new $8 million in funding will provide:

$6 million to the Health Research & Educational Trust for national efforts to expand the Comprehensive Unit-Based Patient Safety Program to Reduce Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infections. The funding will allow more hospitals in all 50 states to participate in the program and expand the program’s reach into hospital settings outside of the ICU. The Health Research & Educational Trust will also use $1 million to support a demonstration project that will help fight catheter-associated urinary tract infections. $1 million to Yale University to support a comprehensive plan to prevent bloodstream infections in hemodialysis patients. AHRQ, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), also identified several high-priority areas to apply the remaining $9 million toward reducing MRSA and other types of HAIs. These projects will focus on:

Reducing Clostridium difficile infections through a regional hospital collaborative. Reducing the overuse of antibiotics by primary care clinicians treating patients in ambulatory and long-term care settings. Evaluating two ways to eliminate MRSA in ICUs. Improving the measurement of the risk of infections after surgery. Identifying national-, regional- and state-level rates of HAIs that are acquired in the acute care setting. Reducing infections caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae Carbapenemase-producing organisms by applying recently developed recommendations from CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee. Standardizing antibiotic use in long-term care settings (two projects). Implementing teamwork principles for frontline health care providers. A complete list of institutions funded by the $17 million in resources awarded today is available at http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/haify09.htm.

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.

Last revised: October 23, 2009

[Cindy]

ON THE INTERNET:

http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/haify09.htm

[dalebert]

dont hospitals already fight these infections...is this more czarr money

[WVKayaker]

I have the answer. Show me the money!

[GloriaJane]

What? They gonna buy a lot of bleach?

Back when I worked at Roche Labs now known as Lab corp, they told us that bleach killed germs better then anything else. Just plain old good old bleach.

They cleaned up after all the samples of HIV and every other type of specimens racked full of every type of germs you could think of with good ole bleach.

[Thank You Rush]

If this is such a problem, why wasn’t it tackled FIRST - ahead of health care reform? I guess we can expect that ACORN will suddenly be in line for this money as they seem to have unknown talents - able to solve every problem this country has. Don’t laugh - if Maxine Waters says they can have a say in regulating financial institutions, they by golly, they ought to be fighting disease also.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Cindy.

[goseminoles]

I agree. Where is the money? I’m laid up right now with my second surgery for subdural abscesses related to MRSA. Two surgeries including lamenectomies is over 200,000 bucks. All from a simple cyst 20 years ago. My antibiotics are 100 per pill, twice daily. Trust me when I say, MRSA is a bitch.

[Cindy]

I’m so sorry to hear about your situation goseminoles.

I’ll pray for you.

[bigheadfred]

They could spend a bunch of that money here. Tear down the EIRMC and put up a parking lot. Really rolling the dice to do a tour there.

[goseminoles]

Thanks cindy.

[Cindy]

You’re welcome goseminoles.

I do pray you get better.