Posted from consumerreports.org
They have high rates of MRSA, C. diff,
and other dangerous infections
and other dangerous infections
By Joel Keehn
Last updated: September 30, 2015
To highlight the growing problem of dangerous hospital infections, Consumer Reports recently rated hospitals based on their infection rates for two of the most common and deadly bacterial infections in hospitals, MRSA and C. diff. And we identified the 12 hospitals in the country that earned low scores not only against those hospital infections but also three other infections in our Ratings. Those include infections following surgery as well as infections associated with urinary catheters and central-line catheters (large tubes that provide medicine and nutrition to patients).
Those 12 low-scoring hospitals performed poorly across all five types of hospital infections, based on data they provided to federal government agencies, between October 2013 and September 2014. "Getting a low score across all five infection categories is a red flag that the hospital is not focusing proper resources on infection control," says Doris Peter, Ph.D. director of the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center.
Here are the 12 low-scoring hospitals, listed alphabetically:
Brooklyn Hospital Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Decatur Memorial Hospital, Decatur, Ill.
Floyd Memorial Hospital and Health Services, New Albany, Ind.
Fremont-Rideout Health Group, Marysville, Calif.
Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care Centers., Evergreen Park, Ill.
Mercy St. Anne Hospital, Toledo, Ohio
Riverview Medical Center, Red Bank, N.J.
Rockdale Medical Center, Conyers, Ga.
St. Petersburg General Hospital, Saint Petersburg, Fla.
The Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, Torrington, Conn.
UF Health Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Fla.
Venice Regional Bayfront Health, Venice, Fla.
Note that the data our hospital Ratings are based on are released periodically throughout the year by the CDC. The CDC adjusts that data to account for factors such as the health of a hospital’s patients, its size, and whether it’s a teaching hospital. See our complete and the most current hospital Ratings as well as more about how we rate hospitals.
We’ve asked these hospitals what they are doing to improve, and why their infection rates were higher than average during the reporting time period of October 2013 to September 2014. To date, we have received written responses from the following hospitals:
Brooklyn Hospital Center
Floyd Memorial Hospital and Health Services
Fremont-Rideout Health Group
Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care Centers
Rockdale Medical Center
St. Petersburg General Hospital
UF Health Jacksonville
Venice Regional Bayfront Health
Decatur Memorial Hospital called us after we published our Ratings to discuss our findings but has not yet submitted a written response. We will add that response and any other as we receive them.
How Hospitals Can Improve
Our report, "How Your Hospital Can Make You Sick," revealed how hospitals and doctors contribute to hospital-acquired infections and antibiotic resistance and what hospitals and patients can do to protect against the problems.
Specifically, hospitals must do these things to prevent infections:
Follow infection control protocol, such as using protections including gowns, masks, and gloves by all staff.
Reduce overuse of antibiotics.
Have an antibiotic stewardship program. That should include mandatory reporting of antibiotic use to the CDC.
Accurately report how many infections patients get in the hospital.
Promptly report outbreaks to patients, as well as to state and federal health authorities.
Join our efforts to stop hospital infections and support our work in stopping the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
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