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Patient Safety

Thursday, February 02, 2012

CMS Posts Central-Line Infection Data to its Hospital Compare Site

CMS has added data on central line-associated infections to its Hospital Compare website, the Salt Lake City Deseret News reports (Collins, Deseret News, 2/1).

The website -- which seeks to help consumers obtain information about hospitals and compare their quality -- already included data on medical errors and patient satisfaction (Sanger-Katz, National Journal, 2/1).

Data Reporting

On the website, CMS released data on central line-associated infections in intensive care units for 1,146 hospitals across the country (Keehn, Consumer Reports, 2/1).

All hospitals that participate in CMS' "pay-for-reporting" program must report the data (Salt Lake City Deseret News, 2/1).

Almost 33% of the hospitals reported no infections during the three-month period from January 2011 to March 2011 (Consumer Reports, 2/1). CMS will update the data quarterly.

Future Additions to Hospital Compare Website

Next year, CMS will update its Hospital Compare site with data on:

  • Surgical-site infection rates;
  • Rates of urinary tract infections acquired from catheters (National Journal, 2/1).



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