Hospitals in Alaska have the lowest rate of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections in the country, CDC data shows.
The CDC's healthcare-associated infections dataset, updated July 31, includes performance data for five types of infections collected through the National Healthcare Safety Network. The HAI measures show how often patients in a particular hospital contract certain infections during their inpatient stay, when compared to similar hospitals.
The CDC calculates and publishes a standardized infection ratio for each HAI by state, which may take into account care location, number of patients with an existing infection, lab methods, hospital affiliation with a medical school, hospital bed size, patient age and patient health. The measures apply to all patients treated in acute care hospitals, including adult, pediatric, neonatal, Medicare and non-Medicare patients, according to the CMS data dictionary.
Data for this ranking was collected from Oct. 1, 2022, to Sept. 30, 2023.
In 2022, the state with the lowest rate was Vermont (0.428) and the state with the highest rate was Alabama (1.534).
Here are the states with the lowest and highest MRSA rates in 2023:
Lowest
- Alaska — 0.241
- Idaho — 0.298
- Wyoming — 0.367
- Montana — 0.386
- North Dakota — 0.457
Highest
- Louisiana — 1.114
- West Virginia — 1.066
- Alabama — 1.046
- Kentucky — 1.01
- Tennessee — 1.001