APIC makes business case for infection prevention

APIC makes business case for infection prevention

CEOs, CFOs, there's gold in preventing infections

The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology is trying to dispel three "widely held myths" about health care associated infections (HAIs):

• That HAIs are an expected by-product of treating an older, sicker patient population with an increasing array of invasive techniques;
• That the additional cost of an HAI is largely offset by reimbursement, making the infection revenue neutral or positive;
• That the number of HAIs in most institutions is not significant, making the cost savings associated with reduction of HAIs not worth the investment.

"Our goal is to aid health care executives in better understanding the true cost of HAIs and engage them in an evaluation of the costs in their particular institution," APIC states in new white paper on the issue. "By clarifying the business case and providing a practical methodology to estimate the value of reducing health care-associated infections, we are confident that hospital leaders will take a more aggressive approach to infection prevention."

The current system of reimbursement obscures the true cost of HAIs to health care institutions, APIC argues. There is emerging evidence that reimbursement for infection does not cover the cost of the required additional care. In fact, HAIs result in considerable operating losses to hospitals in almost all cases. Because many deserving issues don't get attention unless executives understand their economic implications, APIC is committed to continuing to communicate and clarify the business case for infection prevention. APIC hopes the number crunching and practical examples presented in the paper will encourage hospital executives and financial officers to develop a deeper understanding of the economic impact of HAIs.

"It is our position that pursuing perfection, setting HAI reduction strategies at the theoretical ideal (zero preventable infections), represents a substantial opportunity for hospital leaders to improve safety, quality and significantly reduce cost," APIC states.

(Editor's note: The APIC paper is available at www.Apic.org.)