Hospitals in Vermont have the lowest rate of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections in the country, CDC data shows.
The CDC's healthcare-associated infections dataset, updated July 27, includes performance data for five types of infections collected through the National Healthcare Safety Network. The HAI measures show how often patients in a particular hospital contract certain infections during their inpatient stay, when compared to similar hospitals.
The CDC calculates and publishes a standardized infection ratio for each HAI by state, which may take into account care location, number of patients with an existing infection, lab methods, hospital affiliation with a medical school, hospital bed size, patient age and patient health. The measures apply to all patients treated in acute care hospitals, including adult, pediatric, neonatal, Medicare and non-Medicare patients, according to the CMS data dictionary.
Data for this ranking was collected from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021.
Five states with the lowest MRSA rates:
- Vermont — 0.428
- Hawaii — 0.471
- Maine — 0.504
- Minnesota — 0.517
- Delaware — 0.559
Five states with the highestMRSA rates:
- Alabama — 1.534
- Mississippi — 1.588
- West Virginia — 1.711
- Arkansas — 1.733
- Louisiana — 1.774