hospital acquired infections

Health & Safety

After his wife died, he joined nurses to push for new staffing rules in hospitals

10:47am February 22, 2024

by Kate Wells

Nurses have been telling lawmakers that hospital understaffing is putting patient lives at risk. They want Michigan to follow California and Oregon and institute mandatory staffing ratios.

Under the law, Medicare is mandated each year to punish the 25% of general care hospitals that have the highest rates of patient safety issues. The assessment is based on rates of infections, blood clots, sepsis cases, bedsores, hip fractures and other co

Health & Safety

Several 'Best' U.S. Hospitals Penalized Over Too-High Rates Of Infection, Injury

5:00am January 31, 2020

by Jordan Rau

Medicare is cutting payments to 786 hospitals with the highest infection and complication rates. The list includes a third of the hospitals proclaimed as the nation's "best" in one prominent ranking.

The North American porcupine has a cute face, but it has upward of 30,000 menacing quills covering much of its body. The slow-moving herbivore uses them as a last-resort defense against predators.

Porcupine Barbs For Better Wound Healing

11:42am April 09, 2019

Surgeons would love to find a replacement for surgical staples — one that doesn't aggravate wounds on the way in and out. Bioengineers think they've found the right model — a porcupine's quill.

Each year, hundreds of hospitals lose 1 percent of their Medicare payments through the Hospital-Acquired Conditions Reduction Program. The penalties — now in their fourth year — were created by the Affordable Care Act to drive hospitals to improve the

Hospitals Nationally Hit Hard By Medicare's Safety Penalties

8:18am January 05, 2018

by Jordan Rau

Seven states saw a third or more of their hospitals punished under the federal health law's campaign against hospital-acquired conditions. Critics accuse some unscathed hospitals of gaming the system.

C. diff infections, which rose for decades, are now falling, according to the CDC.

C. Diff Infections Are Falling, Thanks To Better Cleaning And Fewer Antibiotics

12:59pm June 29, 2017

by Angus Chen

The bacterium C. difficile causes one of the most common infections in hospitals and nursing homes. After climbing for decades, the rate of new infections is now falling.

Nursing homes and hospitals need to work harder to keep water systems from being contaminated with bacteria that cause Legionnaires' disease, the CDC says.

Plumbing In Hospitals And Nursing Homes Can Spread Legionnaires' Disease

3:54pm June 06, 2017

by Rob Stein

The CDC says health care facilities such as nursing homes and hospitals need to work harder to prevent contamination with the bacterium that causes the potentially life-threatening form of pneumonia.

Wounds infected with antibiotic-resistant staph often heal, but the bacteria can remain inside a person's body and cause future infections.

My Unlovely Lady Lump: When MRSA Is Ugly, But Not Life-Threatening

5:00am March 18, 2017

by Cassandra Willyard

Antibiotic-resistant staph infections don't always start in hospitals, and they aren't always particularly dangerous. But, even after a MRSA-infected wound heals, the bacteria often remain.

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles has been penalized in all three years since the creation of a Medicare program to reduce patient-safety issues in hospitals.

Medicare Penalizes Hospitals In Crackdown On Antibiotic-Resistant Infections

12:24pm December 22, 2016

by Jordan Rau

For the first time, Medicare penalties against hospitals with too many avoidable patient safety complications include fines tied to the prevalence of two types of bacteria resistant to drugs.

Four days after Rory Staunton cut himself in gym class, he died from septic shock.

Health Officials Struggle To Fight Deadly Sepsis Infections

3:18pm August 23, 2016

by Michelle Andrews

Although a CDC study released today found that 80 percent of cases develop outside the hospital or at a nursing home, many people still don't know about this lethal medical condition.

Behind-the-scenes work to reduce injuries and infections in hospitals has paid off. Further improvements may be more challenging.

Health & Safety

Hospital Injury Rates Plateau, After 3 Years Of Decline

2:23pm December 03, 2015

by Jordan Rau

Hospitals have averted many types of injuries where clear preventive steps have been identified. But complications with less clear-cut solutions remain a problem, a government report finds.