GREENSTEIN/MORIARTY PUBLIC RIGHT-TO-KNOW BILL
ON HOSPITAL INFECTION RATES SIGNED INTO LAW

Action Comes Two Weeks  after New CDC Report Finds Deadly Super-Staph Infections Rising at Dangerous Rates
 
(HAMILTON) - New Jersey today became the 20th state in the country to enact a law providing health-care consumers with unfettered access to reports on infection rates at all New Jersey hospitals.

The lead Assembly sponsors of the measure (S-147/A-4328) -- Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein (D-Middlesex/Mercer) and Assemblyman Paul Moriarty (D-Gloucester/Camden) said the pro-patient safeguards under the new law will better enable New Jersey to combat the dangerous drug-resistant germ - methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.  A new study issued by the federal Centers for Disease Control two weeks ago revealed that the super-staph infection microbe is claiming more American lives each year than the AIDS virus.

"The CDC report was a wakeup call that we need to redouble our efforts to protect patients from antibiotic-resistant bugs like MRSA," said Greenstein.

"MRSA poses enormous challenges and wholesale changes are needed throughout the health care system to combat this insidious threat," said Moriarty.

Governor Jon S. Corzine signed the legislation into law during a ceremony at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton.

The law - which was crafted with strong backing from the AARP and other patient-advocacy groups - will address issues raised in published reports that found state health officials collect only limited information on hospital infections.  Published accounts also have criticized the state's infection rates reporting system as being so overly secretive that it deprives state residents of important consumer information for making important health-care decisions.

"Patients have a basic right to know if a local hospital is an infectious hotspot," said Greenstein.  "No one should fear that a trip to the hospital could lead to a life-threatening illness.

The secrecy surrounding hospital infection rates is a disservice to consumers and is harmful to the reputation of our nationally renowned health care system."

Under the law, hospitals are required to regularly report infection rates for multiple ailments to the state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).  The state agency is to then make the hospital-specific information available to the public.  Currently, DHSS only collects information regarding specific outbreak incidents, but uses confidential facility codes to prevent the public from linking occurrences to specific facilities.

"Enhancing the public's access to infection rates will further motivate hospitals to enhance their own efforts to combat infections," said Moriarty. "Ensuring the timely and accurate public reporting of infection rates can be a win-win for hospitals and consumers."

New Jersey joins a growing list of states that now require public disclosure of hospital infection rates.  Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania already have such laws in effect.

The new law builds upon safeguards outlined in the 2004 Patient Safety Act, which established a medical error reporting system for the state.  That law, however, did not provide patients with sufficient comparative information on individual hospitals.

The law requires general hospitals to report on a quarterly basis their respective infection-rate data to the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).  The data is to be broken down into major site categories that define health care-associated infection locations, multiple infections, and device-related and non-device related infections.

Upon receiving this data, the DHSS is to notify the respective facilities of any recommended changes to their infection-prevention procedures.  DHSS is required to make the information about recommended changes public via its Web site.  DHSS also is to include process quality indicators identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that are in place at a particular hospital.

In addition to Greenstein and Moriarty, the measure was sponsored by Assemblymen Joseph Vas (D-Middlesex), Patrick Diegnan (D-Middlesex) and Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May/Cumberland/Atlantic).

The new law complements another patient protection measure (A-4179) that was sponsored by Greenstein and signed into law earlier this year by Governor Corzine.  That law requires hospitals to screen for and report illnesses caused by MRSA and implement programs to reduce the number of hospital-acquired MRSA infections.

The law further requires hospitals to test all high-risk patients for MRSA, whether or not they show symptoms of the bacterium.

Last week's CDC report determined that MRSA is responsible for more than 94,000 serious infections and nearly 19,000 deaths each year.  By comparison, the AIDS virus killed about 12,500 Americans in 2005.

Researchers in the study calculated that MRSA is now striking 31 out of every 100,000 Americans.

Earlier this year, the national advocacy group Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths estimates that hospital infections increase hospital operating costs by $30.5 billion each year.

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