SANTA FE – A new report from New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) reports medical facilities statewide are doing a better job reporting healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).
HAIs are infections people get while they are receiving health care for other conditions. They can happen in any health care facility, including hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, and long-term care facilities.
NMDOH monitors and reports the number of these infections statewide. HAIs are a public health concern in the United States as they lead to increased health care costs, illness and, in some cases, death. The report is compiled by the department's Healthcare-Associated Infections Program and covers HAI reporting from 2015 to 2017.
Using standards set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the report provides data needed to identify problem areas, measure progress of prevention efforts, and ultimately eliminate healthcare-associated infections.
Between 2015 and 2017, NMDOH gradually increased the number of facilities selected for NHSN external validation: 14 facilities in 2015, to 18 in 2016, to finally, 20 facilities in 2017. Validation, here, means confirming the number of cases reported by facilities. In addition:
- The number of hospital records validated by NMDOH increased from 285 in 2015, to 762 records in 2017.
- Despite an increase in the number of records reviewed by NMDOH, discrepancies in reporting decreased from 41 instances to just five, which shows New Mexico hospitals are getting significantly more accurate in its reporting of healthcare-associated infections.
For more information on this report visit here.
