Jan 14, 2011 | Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Significant Number of Hospitals Participated in Effort to Improved Patient Outcomes
Long-awaited data demonstrates that hospitals can significantly reduce hospital-acquired infections (HAI). A newly-released report validates efforts by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to improve patient outcomes and increase transparency in provider performance, while containing the cost of care. Clinical laboratory testing played a role in helping participating hospitals reduce the number of HAIs.
This news is contained in a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Titled “The First State-Specific HAI Summary Data Report,” it assesses the progress achieved in a program where dozens of hospitals reported a significant decrease in the number of hospital-acquired infections (HAI) in 2009. (more…)
Jun 30, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Role of Clinical Pathology Laboratories in Hospitals may be Boosted by New Public Report
Transparency in provider outcomes took another step forward recently as the State of Oregon published its first report of hospital-acquired infections covering the year 2009. Because pathologists and clinical laboratory administrators are likely to eventually see similar public reporting in their states, this development has nationwide implications.
The report was compiled and released by the Office of Oregon Health Policy Research (OHPR). It compares healthcare-acquired infection (HAI) rates at 58 hospitals and health facilities across the state.
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Apr 29, 2009 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Officials in Mexico were criticized as being slow to respond to the spread of A/H1N1 swine flu on Tuesday, April 28. Mexico was reported to have failed to deliver medicine to the families of the dead, two weeks after the first confirmed death from the flu, the Associated Press reported. Also, the government had not determined where the outbreak began or how it spread, the AP said. In Mexico, 159 people may have died of swine flu, but only seven of these deaths have been verified as A/H1N1 by laboratory tests, the New York Times reported today (April 29).
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Apr 1, 2009 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
As more attention is paid to reducing the number of healthcare-associated infections (HIAs), hospitals and health systems respond with proactive programs to eliminate many obvious sources of such infections. In turn, this affects hospital laboratories, since they play a key role in every hospital’s infection control program.
The basic statistics are stunning. Hospital-acquired infections (HIAs) affect nearly 2 million Americans annually, resulting in 90,000 deaths and up to $6.5 billion in extra costs, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
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