A new report from the Government Accountability Office suggests that the federal government should step up to the plate and set standards for hospitals to follow in preventing hospital-acquired infections. Medicare and the CDC, in particular, should establish clear guidelines as to which infection-control practices they consider to be most important, the GAO said. The CDC, for example, strongly recommends that hospitals follow an imposing 500 practices, far more than hospitals can reasonably implement over the short term, hospital industry leaders say. The report also argues that federal regulators should do more to push hospitals to meet such standards, noting that private groups like doctors, hospitals and employers have done far more to nudge hospitals in that direction.

To learn more about the report:
- read this Baltimore Sun piece [1]

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Study: Hospitals struggle with infection control [3]
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MA hospital-acquired infections cost millions [5]