GOP DOCTORS' CAUCUS

Quality & Transparency in Health Care

There must be transparency required for identifiable problems such as hospital-acquired infections — a $50 billion a year cost to our healthcare system. And reward hospitals with good records. When a patient enters a hospital, he or she should be assured that their condition will be treated. No one enters a hospital to become sicker. Nearly 100,000 out of the two million people who acquire an infection at a hospital will die. That’s more than the deaths caused by AIDS, breast cancer, or auto accidents. For example, H.R. 3104, the Healthy Hospitals Act would require hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers to report data on infections patients have acquired during their stay using the National Health Safety Network at the Centers for Disease Control. This information would be posted online for the public to review, compare, and ultimately bring the market to bear on reducing HAI and its associated costs. The mean total hospital charge for patients with a hospital-acquired infection was $191,872, while the average cost for those patients without such infections was $35,168. The handful of states that currently publish this information demonstrate considerable improvement in lives and dollars saved. There are also other areas where transparency would improve quality and drive down costs.