[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 30 (Thursday, March 9, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H793-H794]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               RECOMMENDATIONS TO LOWER HEALTH CARE COSTS

  (Mr. MURPHY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, according to the Centers for Disease 
Control, every 6 minutes someone in this country dies from an infection 
they picked up in a hospital. That is 90,000 people and a total cost of 
$50 billion. Yet when hospitals adhere to patient safety measures, they 
can dramatically reduce these infections.

[[Page H794]]

  A hospital in Oklahoma performed 400 surgeries without an infection. 
A hospital in Pittsburgh reduced these infections greatly and saved 
millions of dollars. A hospital in St. Louis received savings of $1.5 
million.
  I am pleased that the Energy and Commerce Committee will take up this 
issue and hold hearings on this in a couple of weeks. We need to take 
action and save lives. At this time when we get so concerned about so 
many issues in America, is it not time that Congress tackled these 
issues head-on and worked out such issues as pay-for-performance 
incentives through Medicare and Medicaid to greatly reduce infections 
and save thousands of lives?
  To learn more on this, people can look at my Web site at 
murphy.house.gov.

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