Ohio hospitals set to begin reporting infection data

Plans for a consumer Web site where Ohio hospitals are required to report infection data can move forward after legislation to stop the mandate failed last week (Source: “Your right to learn infection rates at Ohio hospitals survives bid to stop it in legislature,” Cleveland.com Medical Blog, Dec. 19, 2008).

An amendment introduced by Springboro Republican Rep. Shannon Jones would have essentially ended the work of the Hospital Measures Advisory Council, a group that has worked for 13 months on a plan to require all Ohio hospitals to report online about surgical wound infections and all antibiotic-resistant staph and C. diff cases.

Reporting is expected to start in 2009 and be available on the Web starting in January 2010, according to the Ohio Department of Health.