While new data from The Leapfrog Group's fall safety grades shows hospitals have made progress in reversing a major spike in healthcare-associated infections that occurred during the pandemic, data indicates now is not the time to rest on the laurels of that progress.
From late 2021 into 2022 — the data collection period for Leapfrog's spring safety grade cycle earlier this year — central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus all reached a five-year high. Hospitals have regained that lost ground, the latest trends from throughout 2022 show.
However, it is worth underlining that only 19% of hospitals improved performance in all three of those infection measures, Missy Danforth, vice president of healthcare ratings at Leapfrog, told Becker's.
"This isn't the time to sit back and say, 'Infection rates are starting to go down,'" she said, noting that 16% saw no improvements or worsening rates. Sixty-six percent improved on at least one infection measure.
"We have ways to go," Ms. Danforth said. "We [need] hospitals really focusing on improvement across all three of these HAIs where we saw significant increases during COVID."
Notable improvements have been made, though rates remain higher than pre-pandemic years. For the latest fall safety grade cycle, the average standard infection ratios for MRSA, CAUTI and CLABSI were 0.927, 0.735 and 0.888, respectively. In the spring cycle for 2021, which is based on data before the pandemic hit, those figures were 0.798, 0.721 and 0.670.