The Government Accountability Office is calling for greater federal efforts to gather data on the risk of healthcare-associated infections in ambulatory surgical centers.
Recent cases in which large numbers of patients were potentially exposed to serious infections, including HIV and hepatitis, have elevated the need to better understand and monitor the incidence of healthcare associated infections and ASC compliance with infection control practices, according to a report released by the GAO.
The report was commissioned by House leaders Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), and Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.), and is the third in a series of reports that the GAO is preparing on healthcare-associated infections.
"In all of its work on healthcare associated infection, GAO has consistently identified gaps in data about the prevalence of these avoidable infections as an issue that (the Department of Health and Human Services) must address," said Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "Although we know healthcare-associated infections are a deadly public health problem, our surveillance is so poor we still don’t even know whether these infections kill tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands each year."
Pallone, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Health, said the report once again highlights the need for standardized and accurate data on the prevalence of healthcare-associated infections. "It is clear that we need to do a better job," he said.
"While guidelines and standards exist, we lack the mechanisms to ensure they are being followed as required," Berkley added.
According to the GAO, there are at least five sources of data on healthcare-associated infections in ambulatory surgical centers, including two administered by the Department of Health and Human Services.
The GAO recommends that HHS officials conduct periodic surveys of randomly selected ambulatory surgical centers. This would assist the HHS and other federal agencies in determining the nationwide prevalence of healthcare-associated infections and ASC infection control protocol non-compliance in order to direct efforts to reduce infections and patient risk.