Staying healthy in hospitals.

• Position: TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS - Brief article

Hospitalization can be dangerous. As many as 10 percent of patients get an infection while in a hospital or other medical facility. These infections kill 90,000 people and cause $4.5 billion in excess health care costs annually.

Fourteen states currently require hospitals to report "hospital-acquired infections" (HAIs). Four types are usually targeted by reporting laws: pneumonia and infections at the surgical site, in the urinary tract and in the bloodstream.

Pennsylvania released the first statewide report on infection rates in 2004. The state found that rates varied by hospital and region. It found that patients admitted for heart attacks had the highest propensity toward pneumonia and patients admitted for lung diseases represented the largest percentage of bloodstream infections.

Many states took action after Pennsylvania released its information. By the end of 2006, 12 states--Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia and Vermont--had laws mandating public reporting of HAI rates...