This healthcare quality report is excellent....for us to poop on!

So SHEA, APIC and IDSA have released a joint statement that echoes (and expands upon) Mike's concerns about the recent, highly publicized AHRQ report. The statement and accompanying set of talking points speak for themselves. I will quote one small section, and let you read the rest.
"We are concerned that any report coming from a government agency based solely on the use of administrative data, commonly referred to as billing/coding data, paints an inaccurate picture of healthcare-associated infections for the public. In contrast, another Department of Health and Human Services agency -- the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – is preparing to release epidemiologically sound, surveillance data based on the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). Multiple studies have concluded that administrative coding data appears to be a poor tool for accurately identifying infections. This may create greater confusion among consumers."

Comments

  1. I hope SHEA, APIC and IDSA are correct. However, I don't have that much faith in NHSN, which appears easy to game. How much money is spent annually to validate NHSN data? ALso, we should see downward trends in infections based on admin data even if they aren't 100% sensitive and specific. I think Mike's stronger point is that this is old data from 2007-8.

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