Study: Preventable hospital infections cost $9.8 billion a year in U.S.

A new study has found that the national cost of five common and preventable health care-associated infections is $9.8 billion annually (Source: “Infections costing hospitals, patients,” Columbus Dispatch, Sept. 4, 2013). 

The study, which used data from the Centers for Disease Control and research studies conducted between 1998 and April 2013, found that:

• Central-line associated bloodstream infections, which made up nearly 19 percent of all infections, were the most costly, at $45,814 per case. The cost of such infections increased by 27 percent, to $58,614, when drug-resistant bacteria were involved.
• Surgical-site infections were the most common, accounting for nearly one-third of all HAIs. Surgical site infections cost $20,785 per case, according to the report.

The study’s authors noted ways to cut costs and decrease the number of infections, including “increasing federal support to evaluate effectiveness of… prevention approaches (and) encouraging innovation to expand the list of effective interventions or enhancing surveillance programs to include post-discharge tracking” of HAIs.