Merced Sun-Star
Beginning Oct. 1, Medicare and Medicaid will no longer pay for medical care if patients get an infection while they're being treated at a hospital.
For a lot of hospitals, that's bad news because they'll be picking up some of the bills for patient care.
But at Mercy Medical Center Merced, it will be business as usual.
Dr. Rob Streeter, vice president of medical affairs at Mercy, said that for the past year and a half, staffers at Mercy have worked hard to bring infection rates down. "We've done a number of things, and they seem to be working," Streeter said.
Some of the infections that patients may acquire in a hospital include bed sores, intravenous catheter infections and some types of surgical-site infections.
In the case of catheters, which are used to carry medications and nutrition to the patient, a new policy has been installed at Mercy. The catheters are inspected throughout the day and are removed as soon as possible.
Nancy Young, director of quality services at Mercy, said every patient who comes into the intensive care unit of the hospital is swabbed for infection. "We have a lot of patients coming through the hospital, and we need to identify anyone with an infection right away," she explained.
Bedsores are also one of the areas that the hospital is focusing on, according to Streeter. More than a year ago, the hospital established a pressurized ulcer team. Fancy words for bedsores -- but the team seems to be working.
"The nursing staff focuses on a regular turning schedule," Streeter said. The hospital has also bought some beds that will automatically turn a patient. "These aren't your regular mattresses at home," he added.
While hospitals are working hard to lower infection rates, the California legislature wants to make it a law that hospitals must report certain infections.
Two bills are on the governor's desk that would help stop infections, according to the bills' supporters. One, SB 1058, would require public disclosure of some hospital-acquired infections. Another bill, SB 158, would allow a committee to review regulations on hospital-acquired infections.
Streeter said that although Mercy hasn't made its infection rate public, the hospital does report to its parent company, Catholic Healthcare West, on those rates. "I can tell you that we've gone 36 months without a patient on a ventilator getting pneumonia," Streeter said.
But no matter how much the hospital has lowered the infection rate, it's not where Streeter wants it to be. Yet.
"Our goal is zero infections," he said. "I believe that it's possible."
Reporter Carol Reiter
can be reached at (209) 385-2486 or creiter@mercedsun-star.com.
