There has been an uptick in hospitals acquiring infection control surveillance software, largely due to the increased financial ramifications of high infection rates in accountable care initiatives and fears stemming from the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa, according to a report from Black Book Rankings.
Currently, 41 percent of hospitals with more than 150 beds use computerized infection control software, as compared with 28 percent in 2012 and 15 percent in 2010. More hospitals are likely to begin using infection control software in the near future, as 69 percent of all hospitals are shopping for original or replacement infection control systems.
"Infection control surveillance software has proven to help some medical centers identify and reduce HAIs, ultimately facilitating hospitals' efforts to save lives and reduce costs," said Doug Brown, managing partner of Black Book. "However, until the attention brought to infection control recently by both Ebola and accountable care, the software received low acquisition priority by administrators who had back-burned infection control automation tools [in favor of] EHR, interoperability, security and revenue cycle initiatives."
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