PRINTER'S NO. 2765
No. 450 Session of 2005
INTRODUCED BY MARKOSEK, MUSTIO, BEBKO-JONES, CALTAGIRONE,
GINGRICH, GOODMAN, HANNA, HERSHEY, MANDERINO, McGEEHAN,
MUNDY, PALLONE, PISTELLA, READSHAW, REICHLEY, SANTONI,
SHANER, SOLOBAY, STURLA, E. Z. TAYLOR, TIGUE, WALKO AND
WHEATLEY, OCTOBER 13, 2005
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES,
OCTOBER 13, 2005
A RESOLUTION
1 Urging all hospitals and health care facilities in the
2 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania subject to Act 14 of 2003 to
3 comply with hospital infection reporting requirements as
4 enacted by the General Assembly, commending the Health Care
5 Cost Containment Council for its effective implementation of
6 Act 14 of 2003 and commending those Pennsylvania hospitals
7 and their staffs who are demonstrating good faith efforts to
8 identify and respond to the serious problem of hospital-
9 acquired infections.
10 WHEREAS, Reports from a variety of sources, including the
11 Institute of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and
12 Prevention, conclude that hospital-acquired infections kill as
13 many as 90,000 Americans each year; and
14 WHEREAS, According to a 2003 review in the New England
15 Journal of Medicine, from 1975 through 1995 the number of
16 hospital days nationally decreased by 36.5%, the average length
17 of hospital stays decreased by 32.9% and the number of inpatient
18 surgeries dropped by 27.3%, but the incidence of hospital-
19 acquired infections per 1,000 patient-days increased by 36.1%;
1 and
2 WHEREAS, The relevant medical literature and a series of
3 demonstration projects, including several in Pennsylvania which
4 have attracted national attention, show that most hospital-
5 acquired infections can be prevented; and
6 WHEREAS, Acknowledgment of the existence and frequency of
7 hospital-acquired infections is proven to be the essential first
8 step toward prevention; and
9 WHEREAS, Approximately 1.6 million Pennsylvanians were
10 admitted and treated at Pennsylvania's 173 licensed and acute
11 care hospitals during 2004; and
12 WHEREAS, The General Assembly enacted new and stronger
13 requirements in Act 14 of 2003 reauthorizing the Health Care
14 Cost Containment Council and requiring hospitals in this
15 Commonwealth to report hospital-acquired infections to the
16 council; and
17 WHEREAS, According to information recently released by the
18 Health Care Cost Containment Council, hospitals in this
19 Commonwealth reported nearly 12,000 hospital-acquired infections
20 during 2004; and
21 WHEREAS, Among the nearly 12,000 Pennsylvanians who acquired
22 infections in hospitals, 1,800 died while hospitalized; and
23 WHEREAS, The in-hospital mortality rate for persons afflicted
24 with hospital-acquired infections was 6.42 times as great as the
25 2004 in-hospital mortality rate among all patients; and
26 WHEREAS, Admissions for the 12,000 hospital-acquired
27 infections reported by hospitals in this Commonwealth in 2004
28 were associated with 205,000 additional hospital days; and
29 WHEREAS, Hospital charges for the hospitalizations in which
30 hospital-acquired infections occurred were associated with an
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1 additional $2 billion; and
2 WHEREAS, Pennsylvania hospitals in 2003 received an average
3 payment of $29,000 for a hospitalization in which the patient
4 had an infection but received an average payment of $8,300 for
5 hospitalizations in which the patient did not have an infection;
6 and
7 WHEREAS, The Commonwealth paid approximately $125 million to
8 Pennsylvania hospitals in 2004 for treatment of hospital-
9 acquired infections among State employees and Medicaid
10 recipients; and
11 WHEREAS, Financial records show that Pennsylvania hospitals
12 billed and were paid for 115,000 surgical site infections,
13 urinary tract infections, bloodstream infections and ventilator-
14 associated pneumonias, about ten times the total number
15 hospital-acquired infections reported to the Health Care Cost
16 Containment Council in 2004; and
17 WHEREAS, The difference between the number of hospital-
18 acquired infections reported to the Health Care Cost Containment
19 Council and the number of infections for which hospitals
20 submitted bills in 2004, and the calculation by the Centers for
21 Disease Control and Prevention that 7.5% of all hospital
22 patients acquire an infection while in the hospital, suggests
23 that Pennsylvania hospitals are, as yet, reporting only a small
24 fraction of relevant infections; and
25 WHEREAS, Hospital-acquired infections reported by 29
26 institutions accounted for more than one-half of the nearly
27 12,000 reported infections in 2004; and
28 WHEREAS, Most hospitals reported hospital-acquired infections
29 rates less than predicted by the Centers for Disease Control and
30 Prevention and other credible sources; and
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1 WHEREAS, Sixteen Pennsylvania hospitals, including several
2 large hospitals, reported zero infections during 2004, and
3 several institutions reported invalid data; and
4 WHEREAS, The Health Care Cost Containment Council, under
5 State law, is requesting full reporting of hospital-acquired
6 infections of all types; therefore be it
7 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives urge the
8 Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, individual
9 hospitals and relevant industry groups to redouble their efforts
10 and collaboration to ensure identification and reporting of all
11 hospital-acquired infections; and be it further
12 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives strongly
13 encourage all hospitals to comply with the reporting of
14 hospital-acquired infections data to the Health Care Cost
15 Containment Council; and be it further
16 RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
17 the Governor, the Secretary of Health, the Health Care Cost
18 Containment Council and the Hospital and Healthsystem
19 Association of Pennsylvania.
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