NQF to Help Hospitals Better Prevent, Identify and Treat Hospital-Onset Bloodstream Infections to Improve Patient Safety
New guide to be developed will give hospitals a ‘playbook’ to follow to mitigate hospital-onset bacteremia and fungemia
Despite being largely preventable, HAIs are a longstanding concern among hospitals as they result in about 72,000 annual deaths1 and have an estimated direct medical cost2 of $28.4 billion per year. An estimated 633,300 patients contract HAIs each year, a situation that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The HAI infection rate increased significantly between 2019 and 2021, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention3 (CDC).
Over the past two decades, hospitals’ infection prevention efforts have focused primarily on procedure- or device-related infections, using measures such as surgical site infections (SSIs) and central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) to track infection rates. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is currently considering including an HOB outcome measure in its Hospital Inpatient Quality Report Program and other federal health programs that, by contrast, broadens the scope of infections being tracked and reduces the burden on the front-line clinicians who must collect the information.
“Estimates show about a third of healthcare-associated infections are preventable, and reducing preventable infections is one of the most effective things hospitals can do to improve patient safety,” said Dana Gelb Safran, ScD, President & CEO, NQF. “Hospitals and frontline clinicians need actionable, practical guidance on strategies to identify, track, and prevent these infections and protect patients.”
NQF will begin the process of developing the HOB clinical guide by conducting an environmental scan of existing research, conducting key informant interviews, identifying gaps in the field, and hosting a virtual forum of healthcare experts and patients. NQF will use the insight gathered to identify, synthesize, and share best practices that will form the foundation of the implementation guide. Once drafted, the guide will be peer-reviewed by up to five reviewers before being finalized and made widely available to acute care hospitals. Work is expected to commence in late 2023, and the guide is anticipated in mid-2024. This project is made possible by funding from Becton Dickinson (BD).
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About National Quality Forum
The National Quality Forum (NQF) works with members of the healthcare community to drive measurable health improvements together. NQF is a not-for-profit, membership-based organization that gives all healthcare stakeholders a voice in advancing quality measures and improvement strategies that lead to better outcomes and greater value. Learn more at www.qualityforum.org.
Zachary Brousseau
National Quality Forum (NQF)
+1 202-478-9326
email us here
1 https://www.cdc.gov/hai/data/portal/index.html
2 https://www.cdc.gov/hai/pdfs/hai/scott_costpaper.pdf
3 https://www.cdc.gov/hai/data/portal/covid-impact-hai.html
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