New research outlines true cost of hospital acquired infections
March 2, 2010 by Carol KatarskyPosted in: Health care/Treatment trends, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Practice Management
Hospital-acquired cases of pneumonia and sepsis could cost more than $8 billion in increased health costs — and 48,000 patient deaths — annually.
That’s the conclusion of a new study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The researchers studied 69 million discharge records from 2006 for hospitals in 40 states.
According to the study, patients who developed pneumonia stayed in the hospital an average of 14 extra days. Their increased treatment costs were approximately $46,000 per patient. Of those patients, 11% ultimately died from the infection.
Patients who acquired sepsis stayed in the hospital an extra 11 days, at a cost of an additional $33,000. The infection was fatal for 20% of patients.
The study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
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Tags: Archives of Internal Medicine, hospital-acquired infections, patient death, pneumonia, research, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, sepsis
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