Infections Take Heavy Toll on Patients, Profit

Hospitals Urged to Boost Prevention

By Ceci Connolly

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 29, 2006; Page A03

Pennsylvania patients who contracted an infection during a hospital stay in 2004 rang up charges that were seven times higher than patients who did not develop an infection, complications that cost insurers and individuals an extra $614 million, according to a state analysis being released today.

Patients with hospital-acquired infections spent many more days in the hospital, underwent more extensive procedures and were seven times more likely to die, deaths that many experts say were largely preventable. Though the findings were from a single state, industry analysts said the problem of hospital-acquired infections is universal.