PA study documents high cost of hospital infections

Everyone in the hospital industry knows that patients who contract an infection during their inpatient stay are much more costly to treat than those who don't. Now, there's another study out documenting just how expensive it can be.

According to new research from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, the average bill for patients who acquire infections during inpatient treatment in Pennsylvania was almost five and a half times as much as those patients who didn't acquire infections. The data comes from the council's examination of hospital-acquired infections, which found that 27,949 acquired them during their inpatient care in 2007.

In addition to generating larger bills, the agency found that patients who suffered from such infections were six times more likely to die.

To find out more about the study:
- read this Philadelphia Inquirer article

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