Session: Assessing the Impact of Public Reporting on Improving Patient Safety (Fifth Decennial International Conference on Healthcare-Associated Infections (March 18-22, 2010))

Friday, March 19, 2010: 4:00 PM-6:00 PM

Regency VI-VII (Hyatt Regency Atlanta)

CME Credits: 2

Type: Oral

Summary: Some European countries and several states in the US have implemented policies to publicly disclose data on occurrence of some types of HAIs or antimicrobial-resistant infections. These policies are an attempt to inform the public and motivate facilities to improve quality-of-care. This approach has been met with mixed success in other areas of patient safety and healthcare quality. Some argue that infection control process indicators may be a better choice to provide unbiased information to the public. The session will review data regarding the effectiveness of this approach from non-HAI areas. Faculty will share experience from France, where in 2006 the French Minister of Health implemented mandatory reporting of a composite indicator of infection control activity in all French hospitals, as an alternative approach to HAI rate reporting. The session will review early experience from states with public reporting policies to inform participants and provide insights into how effective programs might be implemented. The session will conclude with a panel discussion of the merits and pitfalls of public reporting.

Learning Objectives:

Describe essential components of a public reporting scheme that will improve patient-safety.
Identify the effect of mandatory public reporting of structure and process indicators on infection control practices.
List aspects of public reporting of HAIs that have been problematic for hospitals and local health departments and identify effective strategies to mitigate the problems.

Co-Organized by:

the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE)

Moderators:

Scott Fridkin, MD and Stephen M. Ostroff, MD

Panelists:

Patrick Brennan, MD and Abbe Herzig, PhD

4:00 PM

345

Benefits and Pitfalls of Public Reporting of Hospital Quality Measures: What the Infection Control Community Might Expect in an Era of Public Reporting
Rachel Werner, MD, PhD, University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia VAMC

4:30 PM

346

National Public Reporting of Infection Control (Structure and Process) Indicators: Five Years of Hospital Benchmarking in France
Christian Brun-Buisson, MD, Hôpital Henri Mondor

5:00 PM

347

Lessons Learned from State-Based Public Reporting of HAIs: Benefits and Unanticipated Consequences
Rachel Stricof, MPH, CIC, New York State Deptartment of Health, Hospital Acquired Infection Reporting

5:30 PM

Panel Discussion

45 Assessing the Impact of Public Reporting on Improving Patient Safety