Over the past decade, the reduction of healthcare associated infections has become a persistent and costly challenge for hospitals and health systems.
While significant progress toward reduction has been made in recent years, about 4 percent of hospitalized patients still get an HAI, which amounts to 1.7 million HAIs per year and 75,000 HAI-related deaths annually, according to a study conducted by the CDC. HAIs delay recovery, increase the length of stay and cause around 72,000 deaths per year.
For hospitals, HAIs cost tens of billions of dollars annually. CMS no longer reimburses for care related to some HAIs and hospitals with high rates of HAIs receive lower Medicare reimbursement. In 2019, Medicare is penalizing 800 hospitals for high rates of infection and other safety incidents.
In addition, since 2015 the percentage of hospitals achieving zero infections has declined dramatically, according to a Castlight report on the 2017 Leapfrog Hospital Survey. HAIs remain a serious, costly problem with wide-ranging consequences.
To date, conventional wisdom has been that the key to reducing HAIs lies in making changes related to developing policies and improving processes. This focus on policies and processes has produced positive results, but it appears to have limits. Even clean, new hospitals and hospitals seeking DNV-MIR certification for managing infection risk still face HAI challenges.
In light of these ongoing challenges, hospitals are looking for additional, proven approaches to further reduce HAIs.
Beyond conventional wisdom: A new approach, reapplying a proven technology
Copper’s powerful antimicrobial properties have been well-documented throughout history. In fact, copper alloys are registered with the Environmental Protection Agency for public health claims because of its proven ability to kill bacteria. Yet, until recently, copper had not been leveraged in healthcare infection control efforts due to the cost and upkeep required by copper alloys.
Just over five years ago, entrepreneur Ken Trinder became aware of a company using copper in textiles to reduce bacteria. With his experience in polymers and solid surfaces, he developed a way to suspend the copper-oxide compound, enabling it to continuously kill bacteria on hard surfaces, even after recontamination. Through his company EOS Surfaces, Mr. Trinder brings this proprietary technology in healthcare to reduce HAIs.
Here’s how it works: Imagine bacteria as snow continually falling on surfaces in a patient room or throughout a hospital. When gram-negative or gram-positive bacteria lands on Cupron Enhanced EOS Surfaces (EOScu) — a synthetic Preventive|Biocidal Surface — more than 99.9 percent will be killed within two hours. EOScu kills infection-causing bacteria including resistant strains like methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Acinetobacter.
EOScu has been registered for EPA public health claims, which entails a rigorous approval process requiring a zero-fail rate while exhibiting an ability to kill an EPA-assigned range of harmful bacteria within a specified time frame. EOScu’s efficacy has also been assessed in peer-reviewed studies that found the product to be associated with statistically significant reductions of bacteria and infections in clinical settings.
Clinical studies of EOScu in use at leading hospitals
Two clinical studies confirm the effectiveness of EOScu in reducing infections in hospitals and continuing to lower the bioburden over time.
The first study took place the Norfolk, Va.-based Sentara Leigh Hospital. Results were published in the American Journal of Infection Control in 2016. The hospital used EOScu surfaces and Cupron copper impregnated textiles in a newlyconstructed patient tower and was able to compare HAI rates in the new tower with an old tower that remained open as a control. The unit equipped with EOScu saw statistically
significant declines in HAIs, including an 83 percent reduction in Clostridium difficile cases over a 25-month period. The tower without EOScu experienced no change in HAI rates.These findings suggest that even in a new, clean facility, EOScu can make a difference in HAI reduction.
For the second study, published in the American Journal of Infection Control in 2017, researchers assessed the effect of EOScu on bacterial accumulation on tray tables at Central Texas Veterans Health Care System in Temple. Researchers compared the accumulation of aerobic bacteria on tray tables equipped with EOScu and those not equipped with the copper product. The team extracted samples from the
surfaces three times a day over a 48-hour period and found the mean bioburden on the EOScu tray tables was 81 percent lower at 30 hours than the standard surfaces, even lower than samples taken from isolation rooms.
Conclusion
Despite a great deal of focus and attention, HAIs remain an enormous problem for hospitals and health systems. HAIs continue to result in thousands of injury and deaths per year as well as billions of dollars in excess, unnecessary costs. While efforts to reduce HAIs have yielded some positive results, most efforts rely solely on policies and processes, which have limits. Getting to zero infections requires other creative, scientifically driven, proven solutions.
EOScu is an innovative approach to reducing HAIs, using a proprietary copper-oxide compound that continuously kills bacteria on hard surfaces. EOScu has been proven to reduce the accumulation of bacteria and the risk of exposure to HAIs. EOScu immediately and continuously kills bacteria, resulting in less contamination on surfaces surrounding patients. Because of the savings to hospitals from reduced infections, the investment in EOScu can ultimately pay for itself.
With a combination of policies, processes and proven technologies, hospitals and health systems can move closer to the magic number of zero infections.