WASHINGTON -- Three studies released yesterday place much of the blame for high infection rates on hospitals themselves, affirming long-held beliefs that some sick patients are likely to contract infections while receiving care.

One of the studies focused on Allegheny General Hospital patients and put a price tag on the problem, finding the hospital lost an average of more than $26,000 per patient to treat certain bloodstream infections.

"The simple fact is that every patient who enters a hospital in Pennsylvania and in this country is at risk for a hospital-acquired infection," Marc Volavka, executive director of the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, said at a news conference.

He noted that many of those infections "are about flawed processes and the chaos currently existing within our health care delivery system."

The studies, published in a supplement to the latest issue of the American Journal of Medical Quality, draw in part on data compiled by the council, which released a report last week that details infection rates in the state's 168 hospitals. The report, believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, identifies 19,154 infection cases, or 12.2 per 1,000 cases.

Mr. Volavka said the infections represent an epidemic that, nationwide, could be killing as many as 150 people a day.

He and Dr. David B. Nash, the journal's editor, urged the federal government to push hospitals across the country to follow Pennsylvania's example and keep better records of the problem.

U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, said Congress is considering such legislation, and he said he is working on bills that would cut Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements that cover the cost of treating infections acquired in hospitals.

"Any way you slice it, this is important data. We cannot ignore it," said Mr. Murphy, a psychologist and co-chairman of the congressional health care caucus. "I think the federal government has to take the lead on this."

The government already is developing provisions to cut higher Medicare payments for some hospital-acquired infections, said Nancy Foster, the American Hospital Association's vice president for quality and patient safety policy.

Any proposed reductions would have to be implemented carefully to keep from discouraging hospitals from identifying infections or collecting infection data, she said. But in general, the hospital association "is supportive of the notion that reducing infection should be a high priority," she said.

Ms. Foster said the studies "very clearly enforce the message that is coming through from hospitals all over the country: that we can do better than we ever expected in preventing infection."

Dr. Richard Shannon, principal author of the Allegheny General study, said its findings were being published for the first time, though he noted that he has discussed before the high cost of bloodstream infections associated with "central lines" -- tubes used to infuse blood or medications.

Dr. David Piantkowsky, who chairs Allegheny General's infection control committee, said the findings in the other two studies were not surprising, though they provide new information based on Cost Containment Council data.

While there are some problems with the data, better information will become available in the next several years as reporting improves, he said.

The Allegheny General study focused on 54 patients in intensive care units who contracted central line-associated bloodstream infections over a three-year period.

"The human costs of this were considerable," said Dr. Shannon, noting that 22 of those patients died in the hospital. Only nine ever went home, while the remainder went to long-term care facilities.

The financial costs also were high. The average payment per patient was $64,894, but the hospital spent an average of $91,733 to provide the care, losing $26,839.

In one case, the hospital lost $265,426.

Efforts have been under way for several years to reduce infections at a number of southwestern Pennsylvania hospitals.

Dr. Shannon, Allegheny General's former chairman of medicine, said standardizing infection control procedures helped reduce infections at the hospital.

From 2003 to 2004, bloodstream infections in an intensive care unit fell from 49 to six, and the number of deaths dropped from 19 to one, said Dr. Shannon, now senior vice chairman of medicine for the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

Mr. Volavka said five other Pennsylvania hospitals are using a $150,000 grant from the council and the Jewish Healthcare Foundation in Pittsburgh to document their own costs from hospital-acquired infections. The findings are expected next month.

The second study released yesterday analyzed Cost Containment Council data and other information related to infections contracted in Pennsylvania hospitals.

Hospital procedures, not the sickness of the patient at the time of admission, tended to be the primary cause, said a co-author, Dr. R.S. Johannes of the Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard Medical School.

A third study found that while such factors as diabetes or obesity played a role in the risk of contracting certain surgical wound infections, hospital-associated factors such as hand-washing practices played a bigger role.

"Process, process, process," Dr. Nash said. "That's where the answers lie to improving quality, reducing medical error and improving the safety of care."