Six San Diego County Hospitals Receive Medicare Reimbursement Cuts Due to Infection Rates
LA Testing provides analytical services to help identify environmental pathogens in healthcare and long-term treatment centers.
Last month, The San Diego Union-Tribune published an article about six San Diego County hospitals that have experienced a 1% Medicare reimbursement cut. The cuts were part of a new program administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that penalizes hospitals that rank poorly for healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and other avoidable complications. According to the article, the six San Diego County hospitals were part of 758 nationwide that received the 1% Medicare reimbursement cut.
Healthcare-associated infections are a major concern for hospitals across California and the nation. HAIs can take the lives of patients; increase the length of time a patient needs to be treated and dramatically increases healthcare treatment costs.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that on any given day, about 1 in 25 hospital patients has at least one healthcare-associated infection. There were an estimated 722,000 HAIs in U.S. acute care hospitals in 2011 and about 75,000 hospital patients with HAIs died during their hospitalization. More than half of all HAIs occurred outside of the intensive care unit.
“The spread of microbial pathogens in healthcare environments are caused by a number of factors,” said Jason Dobranic, Ph.D., Vice President of Microbiology and Life Sciences at LA Testing and EMSL Analytical, Inc. “These may include contaminated medical devices, poor hand hygiene, ineffective surface disinfection procedures and contaminated indoor air quality. At LA Testing, we help healthcare providers prevent HAIs by analyzing air, water and surface samples for microbial pathogens. Proactively testing for fungi and bacteria can help prevent infections, provide valuable information about cleaning and disinfection procedures, and can be used to identify the source of an outbreak if one has already occurred.”
LA Testing has also sponsored a three-part video series about healthcare-associated infections that can be seen at:
- Part 1 http://youtu.be/FwO9oUFFIps
- Part 2 http://youtu.be/UaOGwK35Stk
- Part 3 http://youtu.be/DLQX2f2niFk
To learn more about testing for environmental pathogens in hospitals and other healthcare environments, please visit www.LATesting.com, email info@LATesting.com or call (800) 755-1794.
About LA Testing
LA Testing is California’s leading laboratory for indoor air quality testing of asbestos, mold, lead, VOCs, formaldehyde, soot, char, ash and smoke damage, particulates and other substances. In addition, LA Testing offers a full range of air sampling and investigative equipment to professionals and the general public. LA Testing maintains an extensive list of accreditations including: AIHA LAP LLC., AIHA ELLAP, AIHA EMLAP and AIHA IHLAP, CDC ELITE, NVLAP, State of California, State of Hawaii Department of Health and other states. LA Testing, along with the EMSL Analytical, Inc. network, has multiple laboratories throughout California including South Pasadena, Sierra Madre, Garden Grove, San Leandro and San Diego.
( Press Release Image: https://photos.webwire.com/prmedia/9645/201905/201905-1.jpg )
WebWireID201905
hospital- Contact Information
- Joseph Frasca
- Senior Vice President of Marketing
- LA Testing
- (1) 8563032503
- Contact via E-mail
This news content may be integrated into any legitimate news gathering and publishing effort. Linking is permitted.
News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.