NQF Project Brief Return to Legislature                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            November 2005                                                    THE NATIONAL QUALITY FORUM                                                  NATIONAL CONSENSUS STANDARDS FOR THE                                           REPORTING OF HEALTHCARE-ASSOCIATED INFECTION DATA PURPOSE This project seeks to achieve consensus on a comprehensive set of national consensus standards for the public reporting of healthcare-associated infections data in the United States. BACKGROUND Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are a major public health problem in the United States. HAI are the most common complication affecting hospitalized patients, with 5 and 10 percent of in-patients acquiring one or more infections during their hospitalization.1 Overall, an estimated 2 million hospital-acquired HAI occur each year in the United States, accounting for an estimated 90,000 deaths and adding $4.5 to $5.7 billion in healthcare costs. Experts generally believe that at least 20 to 30% of such infections are preventable. The occurrence of HAIs has been of growing concern among consumers, healthcare professionals, providers, and purchasers, who are increasingly seeking information about HAI, in particular those associated with the hospital setting. Most hospitals and other healthcare facilities, however, do not publicly report HAI data, and there are no national standards for public reporting. Since 2003, seven states have passed legislation mandating the reporting of HAI data, and more than 30 other states have similar legislation pending, with varying reporting requirements,2 making it impossible to compare or aggregate the reported data. SCOPE The NQF proposes to work with the full range of stakeholders to identify performance measures that could be used across the spectrum of healthcare settings to provide meaningful information to consumers, purchasers, providers, healthcare professionals, quality improvement organizations, and researchers about healthcare- associated infections. THE NQF PROCESS This project, like all NQF activities, will involve the active participation of representatives from across the spectrum of healthcare stakeholders. The project will be guided by a Steering Committee and assisted by four Technical Advisory Panels as follows: 1) Intravascular Catheters and Bloodstream Infections TAP; 2) Indwelling Catheters and Urinary Tract Infections TAP; 3) Ventilators and Respiratory Infections TAP; and 4) Surgical Site Infections TAP. Agreement around the recommendations will be developed through NQF’s formal Consensus Development Process. FUNDING NQF is currently finalizing funding with the primary funder, and additional funding has been contributed by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), individual state APIC chapters, with other contributions pending. For more information, contact Dianne Feeney, BSN, MS, at 202.783.1300 or info@qualityforum.org. 1 Burke JP. Infection control – a problem for patient safety. NEJM 2003; 348: 651-656 2Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. Available at: http://www.apic.org . Accessed March 29, 2005.