Tampa Bay hospital infection rates rose during pandemic, group warns
TAMPA — A spike in the number of hospital acquired infections during the pandemic were among the factors that downgraded several Tampa Bay region hospitals safety ratings, according to a new analysis released this week.
Across the Unites States, cases of MRSA, urinary tract infections from catheters and infections from blood lines rose significantly during the pandemic, according to the report released by Leapfrog, an independent nonprofit that ranks U.S. hospitals on their safety.
MRSA infections, which can be deadly to patients if not treated, rose by 37% while infections from bloodlines rose by 60%, the group said. Urinary tract infections associated with the use of catheters rose by 19%. The report covers the end of 2021 and all of 2022 when U.S. hospitals grappled with surges in COVID-19 cases from the delta and omicron variants.
The analysis does not list the number of infections by hospital but shows that several Tampa Bay hospitals had higher than average infections compared to the number of procedures they perform.
AdventHealth hospitals in Dade City and Zephyrhills dropped from an A to a B grade. Bayfront Health St. Petersburg stayed as a C-rated hospital while HCA Florida Oak Hill Hospital in Brooksville and Tampa General Hospital slipped from a B to a C grade.
Tampa General performed below average at preventing MRSA and sepsis infections after surgery, the report shows.
Hospital officials said in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times that the hospital is ranked among the nation’s best and was the highest-ranked hospital in the Tampa Bay region in U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-23 Best Hospitals. Tampa General is also the only academic medical center in the country to receive two safety qualifications from the international accreditation organization DNV, officials said
The ratings give significant weighting to infections that are common in some of the complex surgeries offered at Tampa General, the statement said. The hospital’s leadership team will implement an “aggressive” plan in the next two months to meet Leapfrog’s updated best practices and to bring the hospital to an A rating.
“Tampa General is the provider of choice for patients who are high risk and suffering from some of the most complex and complicated health challenges,” the statement said. “TGH performs groundbreaking surgeries that simply are not available anywhere else in our region or across the state.”
Leapfrog began ranking hospitals a decade ago in an effort to reduce the more than 200,000 yearly deaths from hospital errors and injuries by publicly recognizing safety and exposing harm. It ranks more than 3,000 hospitals across the U.S. twice a year on how well they keep patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.
The grades are based on 22 measures of hospital performance using data hospitals report to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In addition to infections, the rankings include the number of complications after surgery, falls and bedsores. They also factor in patient experience, the number of qualified nurses and whether doctors in intensive care units are specially trained for that role.
“We recognize the tremendous strain the pandemic put on hospitals and their workforce, but alarming findings like these indicate hospitals must recommit to patient safety and build more resilience,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group in a news release.
