Trump administration rule could stop public reporting of hospital infections despite death toll

[babylonsister]

Trump administration rule could stop public reporting of hospital infections despite death toll
Jayne O'Donnell, USA TODAY Published 4:29 p.m. ET June 19, 2018 | Updated 11:30 a.m. ET June 20, 2018


Federal health regulators will have to stop releasing data on hospital infections — which affect one in 25 hospital patients every day — under a proposal set to take effect in November, according to an analysis by patient safety advocates.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) plan, part of a complex 500-page proposed rule, could halt the public disclosure of the "super bug" MRSA, post-operative sepsis and surgical site infections, as well as accidents and injuries ranging from bedsores to respiratory failure after surgery.

If the proposed rule is finalized, CMS' Hospital Compare website won't show the infections or safety measures as to do so, the data would have to be in a program the Trump administration said hospitals should no longer have to report infections and other safety problems to.

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CMS chief medical officer Kate Goodrich said the agency "is committed to transparency of quality and cost information" and denied that it was proposing to remove the information from Hospital Compare. She also emphasized that the changes are up for public comment.

Hospitals apparently hadn't been lobbying for the change, but the American Hospital Association said the amount of data required by different federal programs was burdensome and the change would allow them to focus more on patient safety.

"I'd never see them having the gall to be that outrageous," says Leah Binder, Leapfrog's CEO. "But I'm sure they are not going to complain."

more...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/06/19/feds-oppose-public-reporting-hospital-infections/710682002/

[Hortensis]

1. Terrible news. Many people die or end up with ruined

health and finances from hospital-acquired infections and other problems.

[bobbieinok]

2. 1991 in former DDR, we were told govt arrested those who sought info re children harmed by air pollu

East German govt arrested anyone who tried to get info on numbers and condition of children harmed by air pollution from factories. The 2 German states were united in Oct 1990, and tv was beginning to show how people every morning were sweeping up crud that had fallen during the night.

In 91 I never imagined similar rules could happen here.

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R