Pennsylvania officials released a groundbreaking report yesterday about the costly, even life-threatening infections that patients acquire in hospitals.

		Read the report Copies of the new report are free and available on the council's Web site, www.phc4.org, or by calling 1-717-232-6787.

The report by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, details rates of those infections at Pennsylvania's 168 hospitals. It also provides data on deaths, average lengths of hospital stays and average charges associated with hospital-acquired infections.

"It's time to shine the light on this important and costly issue," said Marc Volavka, the council's executive director. "This first hospital-specific report demonstrates Pennsylvania's robust commitment to reducing these serious, costly and largely preventable infections."

Statewide, 19,154 cases of infection were reported, or 12.2 per 1,000 cases. The mortality rate among infection cases was 12.9 percent, compared with 2.3 percent for those without infections. The average charge for infection cases was $185,260, compared with $31,389 for cases without infections.

Among Pittsburgh's larger hospitals, Allegheny General Hospital reported an infection rate of 19.9 per 1,000 cases, Mercy Hospital 17.4, and UPMC Presbyterian and UPMC Shadyside a combined rate of 16.2.

Mortality rates at those facilities for patients with infections, respectively, were 13.5 percent, 9.8 percent and 14 percent.

Average lengths of stay were similar -- about 23 days for patients with infections, compared with about five days for patients without infections. And charges for treating patients with infections were four to five times higher than for treating patients without infections.

Infection rates varied among other area hospitals. West Penn Hospital, for example, reported an infection rate of 9.4 per 1,000 cases, while Jefferson Regional Medical Center reported a rate of 28.7.

But officials noted that rates could be different for a number of reasons. Some hospitals treat a higher number of patients prone to infection, for example, and reporting of infections varies among hospitals.

"You can really look stellar because you do a really good job of infection control, or a very bad job of reporting," said Dr. David Piontkowsky, who chairs Allegheny General Hospital's infection control committee.

The council acknowledged those concerns and suggested the report should serve as a "baseline" to measure improvements of individual hospitals over time.

"This is really the first report of its kind in the U.S., where hospitals have actually identified infections and reported them to a state agency," said Lisa McGiffert, director of Consumer Union's "Stop Hospital Infections" campaign. "This is the kind of reporting we've been advocating all over the country."

"There are too many infections, which are increasing mortality and hospital lengths of stay while adding billions of dollars in hospital charges," said Roger Mecum, executive vice president of the Pennsylvania Medical Society.

The report is based on information from more than 1.5 million patients treated in the state's general acute care hospitals last year. Rates are reported for urinary tract infections associated with catheters; surgical site infections; pneumonia associated with the use of ventilators; and bloodstream infections associated with intravenous tubes used to infuse blood or medications.

The report also includes information on cases of multiple infection and of patients without infections.

The council excluded data on certain patients from the report, including burn patients and patients receiving organ transplants, because they may be at greater risk of acquiring infections.

The report groups hospitals in several categories based primarily on the number of patients treated and the complexity of medical services provided.

Three hospitals -- Butler Memorial Hospital, Hamot Medical Center in Erie and Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey -- were placed in a separate category because they used electronic surveillance systems to track infections. Officials said those hospitals may have had a higher number of reported infections due to more comprehensive reporting, not because they had higher infection rates than facilities that don't use those systems.

Dr. Thomas McGill, Butler's vice president of quality and safety, said positive cultures from the hospital's lab are tallied automatically. While those cases can lead to higher health care costs, he said they do not necessarily indicate infections.

Patient chart reviews are a more traditional way of identifying hospital-acquired infections, he said, but they require more manpower, and the electronic system frees up staff to focus on education and prevention.

Allegheny General, Mercy, UPMC Presbyterian and UPMC Shadyside were included in a group of hospitals that provide complex medical services and treat relatively large numbers of patients.

Officials for the four hospitals said the report reflects progress made in the region in reducing hospital-acquired infections.

A number of southwestern Pennsylvania hospitals have worked for years to reduce infections, in part because of efforts by the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative and other groups.

Dr. Piontkowsky noted that his hospital, Allegheny General, has been a leader in reducing rates of ventilator-assisted pneumonia and central line-associated bloodstream infections, which can be especially deadly.

He also noted that some of the reported urinary tract infections may not require treatment and that the mortality data include people who died from causes other than infection.

"What we're trying to do is incite real progress in patient care," said Cliff Shannon, a council board member and president of SMC Business Councils, a small business lobby based in Churchill. Some hospitals, he said, have been more aggressive in controlling infections than others.

The public reporting of hospital-acquired infections will give hospitals added incentive to reduce infection rates, Dr. McGill said.

"Now, you're going to be compared to other places," he said. "You'll really have to pay attention to this and improve."