Healthcare Industry 

At last, California fights infections with disclosure

Partner: 
Bay Citizen
Sacramento Press
Voice of OC
Summary: 

In January 2011, California becomes the last of the big states to disclose the incidence of hospital-caused infections.  Hospital infections kill an estimated 13,500 Californians a year, but critics say the state’s hospitals and health department remain far behind other states in waging war against this largely preventable scourge.  The new law doesn’t require identification of where deaths occurred and doesn’t include surgery centers, which account for a growing number of surgeries.

Impact Summary: 

In January 2011, California becomes the last of the big states to disclose the incidence of hospital-caused infections.  Hospital infections kill an estimated 13,500 Californians a year, but critics say the state’s hospitals and health department remain far behind other states in waging war against this largely preventable scourge.

Results
California to fight infections with disclosure
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | December 20, 2010
After Carole Moss’s 15-year-old son died from an infection in 2006 in an Orange County hospital, she launched a one-woman crusade to force hospitals throughout California to reveal how many of their patients contract serious infections. “People are dying, and we’re being kept in the dark,” became her mantra as she marched the hallways of Sacramento to push a 2008 public disclosure law called “Nile’s Law,” after her dead son.
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Pronovost shows how checklists can slash infections
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | December 20, 2010
If the infection fight has a national hero, that would be Dr. Peter Pronovost, a Johns Hopkins anesthesiologist who has convinced some of the country’s most prestigious hospitals to fight infections with a simple five-point checklist. His message:  If health care workers took five steps as easy as washing their hands and wearing sterile gloves and gowns, they could virtually eliminate one of the most lethal  infections among their sickest patients.
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A look at the four infections California will soon report
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | December 20, 2010
The California Department of Public Health is required to report data from acute-care hospitals on four different hospital-acquired infections: MRSA, or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus:  A staph infection that does not respond to certain antibiotics. Can be serious or life-threatening for patients in hospitals, nursing homes and other medical facilities. Tied to surgeries, intravenous feeding and other invasive procedures.
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Some states aggressively push disclosure of infection data
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | December 20, 2010
When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a 2004 infection reporting bill, less than a half-dozen states had passed laws requiring hospitals to inform the public about infections that patients acquired at hospitals. In just six years, all that has changed. Today, at least 27 states require public disclosure. Most have Websites that allow consumers to compare infection rates among hospitals; several, like New York and Illinois, show multiple years of statewide trends.
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More reading on hospital acquired infections
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | December 20, 2010
- "The Checklist,” Atul Gawande, New Yorker, Dec. 10, 2007. - Article on ICU checklists, Peter Pronovost et al, New England Journal of Medicine. - Article on surgical checklists, New England Journal of Medicine. - Healthcare-Associated Infections Program, California Department of Public Health.
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Results
California Health Department releases Infection data, but with caveats
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | January 3, 2011
For nearly a decade, patient advocates have been waiting to hear which California hospitals have good safety records, and which are plagued with high infection rates. They got their wish at 3:06 p.m. last Thursday, the last formal business day of the year. That’s when the California Department of Public Health announced that it had posted online the infection data for most of the state’s 373 general acute-care hospitals. By doing so, California became the 28th state to publicize the incidence of hospital-acquired infections, an approach that experts say is proven to reduce infection rates.
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Results
20 California Hospitals that did not report their Hospital Acquired Infection incidents
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | January 3, 2011
The following California Hospitals did not report to the state on their Hospital Acquired Infection incidents, January 2009-March 2010 1.    SUTTER LAKESIDE HOSP, LAKEPORT 2.    SOUTHERN INYO HOSP, LONE PINE 3.    PROMISE HOSP OF SAN DIEGO 4.    PROMISE HOSP OF EAST LA-SUBURBAN CAMPUS, PARAMOUNT 5.    PROMISE HOSP OF EAST LA-EAST L.A CAMPUS, LOS ANGELES 6.    NEWPORT SPECIALTY HOSP, TUSTIN 7.    MADERA COMMUNITY HOSPITAL 8.    KINGSBURG MED CTR 9.    KERN MED CTR, BAKERSFIELD 10.   JOHN C. FREMONT HEALTHCARE DISTRICT, MARIPOSA
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Results
Capital Public Radio features hospital infection project
Center Staff | January 4, 2011
Senior reporter Deborah Schoch appeared on Capital Public Radio's Insight show today to talk about her in-depth reporting on California's hospital infection rates. California just released infection data for most of the general acute care hospitals around the state. Insight show host Jeffrey Callison spoke with Schoch about the data, what patients can learn from it and what hospitals are doing to lower infection rates. Listen to the show here or by clicking the audio box above.
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Results
Guide to the Infection Numbers
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | January 23, 2011
For the first time, health care consumers can learn about infection counts at most California hospitals. Due to a complex format, however, consumers may need some time to navigate the new 95-page report. A few pointers: The report has been released in two documents on the California Department of Public Health website, posted online here. The two documents are at the top of the right-hand column under the title “HAI Program Reports.” 1. The first document, called “Technical Report,” contains infection data for three of the four types of infections that the state was legally required to make public by Jan. 1. Those infections:
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Results
Impact of 'California fights infections'
Deborah Schoch | April 16, 2012
Deborah Schoch's reporting had a significant impact on the California Department of Public Health and its commitment to providing consumers with helpful information.  When the department issued its second annual infections report in January 2012, it was a dramatically improved product that took pains to inform readers about the threat of infections.  It also gave them guidance on how to make use of the new data.  
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