By providing data on “health care-associated infections’’ for each hospital in an easy-to-read format, Department of Public Health officials said they want to reach a new audience: consumers and policy makers. Past reports have been geared more to hospital leaders.
The department plans to post one-page infection report cards tomorrow for each hospital on its website, www.mass.gov/eohhs/gov/departments/dph/.
“Massachusetts does pretty well, but there are areas where there is room for improvement,’’ said Dr. Madeleine Biondolillo, director of the Bureau of Health Care Safety and Quality.
Officials rated hospitals on the incidence of two types of infections: in surgical incisions for coronary artery bypass surgery, knee replacement, hip replacement, vaginal hysterectomy, and abdominal hysterectomy; and bloodstream infections contracted from central lines: tubing inserted into veins, usually in intensive care units. Overall, hospitals reported 199 central line infections in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2011, a 24 percent drop from 2010.
Health officials said, however, that while central line infection rates appear to be falling, a drop this steep is not statistically significant, meaning it could have been random and due to normal year-to-year fluctuations. Depending on the type of intensive care unit, state rates were either equal to or better than national rates.
Surgical site infections were either similar to or lower than national rates, except for vaginal hysterectomies.
The department flagged six hospitals for high rates of surgical site infections since 2009 compared with the state average: Boston Medical Center and Baystate Medical Center in Springfield for vaginal hysterectomy patients; Lawrence General Hospital for abdominal hysterectomy patients; Falmouth Hospital and Boston Medical Center for knee replacement patients; and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for coronary artery bypass patients.
