Cost of Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI)

Case Study: Costs of Hospital Acquired Infections

Background:

The annual cost of Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) in the U.S. is estimated to be 5-10
billion US dollars. Published estimates of the costs of specific HAIs vary widely.
Estimates of the cost attributable to HAIs for individual institutions are difficult to
determine, but are important metrics for setting budgets and understanding the impact
of Hospital Infection Control Programs.

Results:

A total of 26 studies met inclusion criteria. Based on these studies, we estimated the
mean cost of HAI to be: $25,072 per Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAP), $23,242
per Blood Stream Infection (BSI), $10,478 per Surgery Infection (SSI), $12,116 per MRSA
BSI, and $5,980 per MRSA infection. During 2004, the 30 hospitals provided clinical care
for 1,747,196 patient-days (pt-d). Patients in these 30 hospitals had 1,281 BSI (median
rate 0.26 BSI / 1000 pt-d); 1,061 MRSA infections (median rate 0.57 MRSA infection /
1000 pt-d); 225 episodes of VAP during a total of 43,601 ventilator-days (median rate 2
VAP / 1000 ventilator-d); and 1,217 SSIs after a total of 146,188 surgical procedures
(median rate 0.96 / 100 procedures). The median annual total cost of HAI for each
hospital was $572,629 (1QR $316,705 - $1,220,168); the median per day cost was
$1,565 ($865 - $3,333); and the cost per patient day (for all hospital patients) was $14
($11.50 - $25.16) per patient-day. In total $48,165,388 was spent on HAI in 2004 in the
30 study hospitals. Budget data were available for 19 hospitals; a median of $144,000
(1QR $92,500 - $400,000) was budgeted for IC in each hospital. The average cost of
HAI for these hospitals was 9.6 times higher than the amount budgeted for IC.