Over 300 Pennsylvania Nursing Homes in Eastern Pennsylvania Begin Reporting Healthcare-Associated ...( Central and western region f...),Health

Central and western region facilities will begin reporting June 15 and June 22 respectively

HARRISBURG, Pa., June 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Over 300 nursing homes in the eastern region of Pennsylvania began reporting healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) this week to the Patient Safety Authority through its Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System (PA-PSRS). Central and western regions of the state will begin reporting by the end of June.

Legislation signed into law in July 2007 (Act 52) made it mandatory for all hospitals and nursing homes to report healthcare-associated infections. Nursing homes must report HAIs to the Authority and the Department of Health (DOH). The Authority significantly expanded PA-PSRS to enable nursing homes to use the reporting system that has worked well for facilities that must report under Act 13 of 2002 (MCare Act).

Hospitals began reporting in February 2008 through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) reporting system. The Authority, the Department of Health and the Pennsylvania Healthcare Cost Containment Council (PHC4) have access to NHSN for their individual roles in helping eliminate and reduce HAIs.

"The Authority's role is to help educate facilities on what we're seeing in the data and provide guidance so they can reduce and eliminate healthcare-associated infections," Mike Doering, executive director of the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority said. "The information we analyze will be featured in articles in the Patient Safety Advisories we produce quarterly."

Doering said the nursing homes are reporting in a phased roll-out by region to minimize any potential problems with implementation. Nursing homes in the central region will begin reporting June 15 and facilities in the western region will begin reporting June 22. He added that preparing nursing
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