Hospital-related infections drop under California initiative

Scores of California hospitals, under pressure to reduce infections that kill an estimated 12,000 patients every year, say they have managed to cut costs and save lives through an initiative that has nurses and doctors redoubling efforts to prevent deadly germs from taking root.

The three-year campaign is bringing together 160 hospitals across the state with the aim of reducing an estimated 200,000 hospital-related infections in California that add $600 million to healthcare costs every year.

Since its launch 19 months ago, the initiative is credited with cutting ventilator-associated pneumonia 41%. Urinary tract infections related to catheters fell 24% last year, and cases of blood poisoning dropped 11%. The lower rates have saved an estimated $11 million in healthcare costs.

"We're definitely making progress," said Dr. Philip Robinson, who oversees infection prevention at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach. "Each one of these infections is a burden to patients, hospitals and the whole healthcare system."

Hospital infections have long been a problem, but the health threat has become more urgent with medical care increasingly delivered in outpatient clinics, leaving hospitals to treat the sickest patients, who are most susceptible to infection-related illnesses.

The situation contributes to an estimated 99,000 deaths nationally every year and adds as much as $33 billion annually to healthcare spending, according to university and government researchers.

Separately, the California Department of Public Health estimates that 12,000 people in the state die each year of healthcare-related infections in hospitals.

Alarmed by these statistics, both the federal government and insurers are stepping up pressure on hospitals to act.

Washington no longer pays the extra fees when Medicare patients get infections from catheters and intravenous lines, and the new federal healthcare law will soon withhold money from hospitals that fail to reduce infection rates.

Major national and state insurers also are targeting what they see as unacceptably high infection rates. California insurance giant Anthem Blue Cross is putting up $6 million to pay for the statewide Patient Safety First program but already has recouped nearly double that amount through lower healthcare spending in the program's first year.

Anthem's corporate parent, WellPoint Inc., announced this year that it is cutting payment increases to hospitals in 14 states that fail to meet its definition of quality care related to infections, readmission rates and other factors.

"If we can improve the quality of care, that will translate into lower cost," Anthem President Pam Kehaly said. "These are real dollars."

The California initiative is credited with saving an estimated 800 lives, based on lower mortality rates than had been projected, but leaders say the hospitals can still do better.