Picking a NY hospital? Check our hospital-acquired infection database before you do

David Robinson, New York State Team
·3 min read

Before picking a hospital, New Yorkers should check out how well the facility performed in limiting hospital-acquired infections, health officials said.

The stakes are clear as these infections are significant causes of health complications and deaths, affecting about 3% of hospital patients on any given day, state records show.

More than 225,000 patients acquired serious infections at New York hospitals from 2008 through 2019, the most recent statewide data show. And early reporting suggests those infection rates spiked in New York and across the country during the pandemic.

How to use our searchable hospital infections database

Spores of Clostridium difficile, a bacteria that can cause intestinal disease and in some cases death.
Spores of Clostridium difficile, a bacteria that can cause intestinal disease and in some cases death.

You can access our searchable hospital-acquired infection rates database here: data.democratandchronicle.com/new-york-hospital-acquired-infections/.

Type in the name of your local hospital in the search bar to bring up data available from 2008 to 2019 on that medical facility's rates of specific infections, including:

  • CDI, or Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infections that began in the hospital

  • SSI, or surgical site infections associated with hip surgeries

  • CLASBI, or central line-associated blood stream infections.

Clicking on a specific hospital will bring up more detailed data, including a breakdown of infections and infection rates by year, as well as how it compares to state averages.

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What to know about hospital-acquired infections in NY

In 2005, lawmakers and then-Gov. George Pataki approved a state law requiring hospitals in New York to report select hospital-acquired infections to the state Department of Health.

The infections targeted have changed at times, but the 2019 selection included infections for:

Colon surgery, hip replacement, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, abdominal hysterectomy surgery, spinal fusion surgery, and central line-associated bloodstream infections. The list also included Clostridium difficile (C. diff) and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae.

To understand the stakes, consider C. diff alone causes almost half a million infections in the United States each year. And one in 11 people over age 65 diagnosed with a healthcare-associated case will die within one month, CDC says.

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How to read hospital-acquired infection data in NY

One of the keys to using hospital-quired infection data is to look at how each facility stacks up to the state average.

For example, a total of 78 different hospital wards reported rates of at least one infectious disease spreading at rates significantly higher than the statewide average in 2019, data show. Some of these hospitals also reported significantly above-average infection rates for several illnesses.

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These results are important, in part, because the method accounts for differences in the patient population. In other words, the comparison is transparent and fair.

Once armed with this data, consumers seeking further comparisons should review various government and independent safety ratings, some of which include analysis of infection-control measures at hospitals.

At the same time, consumers should also keep an eye out for updates to the database on the USA TODAY Network for the latest hospital-acquired infection data for New York.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Picking a NY hospital? Check our hospital-acquired infection database