We will annually prepare a spreadsheet for each affiliated hospital that calculates the estimated cost of bloodstream infections, ventilator-associated pneumonia, catheter-associated urinary tract infections and surgical-site infections. These data are time trended for all hospitals that have been in DICON for >1 year. We also prepare charts/graphs that show the cost information for all DICON hospitals so individual hospitals can compare their cost of infections with costs calculated for other hospitals in our network. Such data will become even more important as additional Medicare reimbursement policies that limit or prevent reimbursement for the cost of hospital-acquired infection are instituted. Reviewing the above data is a practical and obvious way to monitor your progress in reducing lost revenues and in strategic planning for infection prevention initiatives.
See an Example of the Cost of Infection Report:
In 2009, the CDC prepared a summary report that provides a range of estimates for the annual direct hospital cost of treating healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in the United States. Several of the cost estimates were determined using data from cost studies performed by DICON (Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2007;28;767-773)
