The AHA’s Akin Demehin underscored hospitals’ progress in reducing HAIs between 2015 and 2019, including a 31 percent reduction in central line-associated bloodstream infections. Now, data released as part of The Leapfrog Group’s annual hospital rankings shows that positive progress was reversed in 2021 into 2022, with a significant rise in HAIs.
The numerous demands of the COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly hindered hospitals’ ability to keep up with standard best practices — and that’s a fact worth recognizing, but it doesn’t mean hospitals are less focused on quality improvement, Mr. Demehin wrote.
“Certainly, the once-in-a-century pandemic made it more challenging for hospitals and health systems to do everything and that includes continuing their quality improvement gains,” he wrote. “The COVID-19 pandemic has been highly disruptive to how quality of care is measured in both direct and indirect ways.”
He points out that CMS’ measures and other programs that rate hospital performance were created long before COVID-19’s time and do not take into account that patients with the infection are at a higher risk of worse outcomes than non-COVID-19 patients. Since measures are not risk adjusted, it’s “problematic to compare all hospitals’ performance during a single timeframe” he said.
“While the COVID-19 pandemic has made the work more challenging, one thing remains constant — hospitals and health systems are united in their efforts to improve quality for patients,” Mr. Demehin said.
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