A Michigan program to reduce hospital-associated infections is catching on nationwide as the Obama administration offers $50 million to states to promote quality initiatives and will begin penalizing hospitals with high infection rates beginning in 2015, according to a report in the Detroit Free Press.
The Michigan program — which includes new oral hygiene regimens and staff checklists to help prevent catheter, ventilator and central-line infections — has been cited by three federal agencies as a way to reduce infections in other states. It is currently used in 118 Michigan hospitals, according to the report.
Part of the program's funding has been provided by the Keystone Center for Patient Safety & Quality, part of the Michigan Health & Hospital Association, which says it reduced statewide central line infections in 2008 to 1.2 cases per 1,000 days of patient use, compared with 2.4 cases nationwide, according to the report.
Read the Detroit Free Press report on Michigan infection control.