Infection Control Today Magazine

Healthcare Economics

ICU-Acquired Lower Respiratory Tract Infections Associated with Increased Hospital Costs

Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) are the most common hospital-acquired infections on ICUs. They have not only an impact on each patient’s individual health but also result in a considerable financial burden for the healthcare system. Leistner, et al. (2013) sought ...More
2 weeks ago
Posted in News
Study Examines Relationship Between Occurrence of Surgical Complications and Hospital Finances

Findings of an analysis that included nearly 35,000 surgical discharges from a 12-hospital system suggest that the occurrence of postsurgical complications was associated with a higher per-encounter hospital contribution margin for patients covered by Medicare and private ...More
April 15, 2013
Posted in News
Better Coordination Necessary to Reduce Hospital Readmission Rates

Achieving widespread reductions in preventable hospital readmissions among Medicare beneficiaries may take longer than many healthcare professionals originally anticipated, according to researchers at Penn State, the Weill Cornell Medical College and the University of ...More
April 15, 2013
Posted in News
Healthcare Supply Chain Could Benefit from Using Retail's Best Practices, Study Finds

A new survey by researchers at the University of Arkansas indicates that the healthcare industry’s supply chain lags behind the retail industry supply chain and could benefit significantly from adopting several of retail’s best practices. “The retail industry has a long ...More
April 12, 2013
Posted in News
Decontamination of Unused Medical Supplies Reduces Healthcare Costs

In rooms of patients with multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs), the outside of the packages containing sterile items can become contaminated. Unused medical supplies are often thrown away to prevent the items from becoming pathways for transmission of drug-resistant ...More
April 9, 2013
Posted in News, Environmental Hygiene
Hospitals Measure Up for Medicare Reimbursement

For-profit hospitals are out-performing other hospitals when treating stroke, heart attack and pneumonia patients in emergency departments and, thus, will be more likely to receive bonuses under Medicare’s new payment rules, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study. ...More
April 1, 2013
Posted in News
Slide Show: Economics of HAI Prevention

The new normal in infection prevention revolves around data collection and number crunching, with the ultimate goal of determining progress in organizational quality improvement. Addressing the criticality of surface disinfection and environmental hygiene, which is a ...More
March 26, 2013
Posted in Galleries, Environmental Hygiene
Slide Show: Sequestration and Public Health

As Congress debates strategies to avoid the fiscal cliff, we look at the impact that sequestration would have on public health and infectious disease control and prevention. ...More
November 19, 2012
Posted in Galleries, Policies and Practice
Association of Medical Device Reprocessors Celebrates 15 Years of Cutting Healthcare Spending

The Association of Medical Device Reprocessors (AMDR) celebrates a significant milestone today, marking 15 years of helping hospitals cut wasteful spending. Its members saved U.S. hospitals $300 million in 2011 alone. The third-party reprocessing association, which has ...More
November 13, 2012
Posted in News, Disinfection & Sterilization
CDC Funds Help States Prevent HAIs

With funds made possible by the Affordable Care Act, all states that applied to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for infrastructure funds (49 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico), will receive funding to continue to implement strategies to protect ...More
September 7, 2012
Posted in News