Senate passes bipartisan bill to aid in fight against hospital-acquired infections

OLYMPIA – We check into hospitals to deliver babies, have tests performed, and undergo and recover from surgery. But we don’t expect to get sick from staying in the hospital.

But every year, 2 million Americans get hospital-acquired infections. Of those, 90,000 die. On a pro-rated basis, that works out to be 1,800 Washingtonians. That’s an average of 35 deaths per week in this state caused by infections contracted by patients while they are hospitalized.

Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent, chair of the Senate Health & Long-Term Care Committee, helped craft a solution that won unanimous support in the Senate yesterday. House Bill 1106, sponsored by Rep. Tom Campbell, R-2nd District, would require information on hospital infection rates be made available on a Web site maintained by the state Department of Health (DOH).

“This bill is the product of hard work and compromise by both parties,” Keiser said. “We devised a solution that gives the public useful information on this issue and can be managed by hospitals reporting the data.”

Presently DOH licensing standards require hospitals to maintain infection control programs to reduce the occurrence of hospital-acquired infections. As part of the program, hospitals must adopt procedures consistent with standards developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Hospitals already collect and maintain data on negative health outcomes.

The bill would require that specific data be collected on infections contracted in hospitals, including those caused by central lines, ventilators and certain surgeries. This information would be collected according to nationally set standards and reported to federal health agencies.

In addition, the bill would set up a stakeholder group to review existing protocols for infection control at both freestanding and hospital-owned ambulatory surgical facilities. Its charge would be to assess whether the provisions of the bill should be extended to these facilities.

“We finally have a solution to a problem that has caused too many families unnecessary expense and, far too often, heartache,” Keiser said. “This bill will help consumers make informed choices about hospitals and ultimately make them safer places for patients.”

Keiser said a constituent sent her a poignant letter about the loss of his mother last month from a hospital-acquired infection. “He wrote that consumers have a right to know which hospitals are improving their infection rates and which aren’t,” Keiser said. “I couldn’t agree more.”

The bill returns to the House for concurrence with the Senate amendment.

Return to Sen. Keiser's home page