[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 89 (Tuesday, June 5, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H5984-H5985]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       INFECTIONS AND HEALTH CARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Tim Murphy) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I am here to talk about 
a sad but true problem in our health care institutions in this country, 
and that is this. The Centers for Disease Control tells us in any given 
year some 2 million people will catch an infection while either in 
their hospital or health care center. Some 90,000 people will die, and 
some $50 billion is spent on this each year in our hospitals.
  Now this chart here depicts what we have as of this evening, 853,747 
cases so far, over 38,000 deaths and over $21 billion already spent as 
of today. These are bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites that cause 
these common hospital infections. Most common are influenza, flu or 
colds. The thing about this is so many can be prevented, but a huge 
problem among the bacteria types, some 70 percent of the bacteria are 
resistant to at least one medication. There is a huge problem in 
American hospitals, which is causing so many deaths and a big part of 
our health care costs.
  Now these microorganisms can be present when a patient comes in, and 
that's why it's so important to understand how the staff, the hospital 
staff, the doctors, the visitors, the patients themselves need to 
adhere to some special procedures in order to prevent this problem from 
occurring and killing so many and costing us so much on our health care 
dollars.
  For example, diseases are passed on by poor hygiene from poor hand 
washing; clothes that are not necessarily clean on even the doctors, 
nurses and visitors; unclean equipment, catheters that are left in too 
long that lead to urinary tract infection; respiratory infections from 
those with colds or flu who are around patients; bed sores. The list 
goes on and on.
  This is not rocket science how we prevent this, and some estimates 
are as high as 25 or 30 percent or more of things such as methicillin 
or resistant Staphylococcus Aureus can be prevented by hand washing 
before and after contact with any patient.
  Many of these diseases can be prevented by sterilizing all equipment 
used with patients, including making sure that hospital staffs have 
clean stethoscopes, otoscopes, thermometers, et cetera, making sure 
they clean up after every procedure, the proper use of antibiotics, 
pretesting patients on admission to evaluate the presence of an 
infection, wearing masks if someone is suspected of having some 
illness, using infection control boards at hospitals to monitor and 
manage patients, empowering staff to stop or intervene on any procedure 
when clean rules are violated, and using aggressive educational 
campaigns for staff and visitors in the hospital.
  The point is it can be done. Yes, indeed, it can be done. As a matter 
of fact, Allegheny Hospital in Pennsylvania reduced the rate of central 
line-acquired infections from 19 to almost zero within 90 days through 
staff training and control.
  A major teaching hospital in Saint Louis found that they saved costs 
up to $1.5 million. Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma performed 400 surgeries 
without any infections. The VA Pittsburgh Healthcare system has reduced 
MRSA infections by 85 percent in an inpatient surgical unit because 
they paid attention to these things.
  Now here is one of the sad truths in America. Hospitals don't have to 
report when they have infections. Although 13 States are considering 
legislation, only 6 States require reporting of health care associated 
infections: Florida, Illinois, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania and 
Virginia. Pennsylvania is the only State that makes its information 
available to the public.
  It is time we change this. I have introduced H.R. 1174, the Healthy 
Hospital Act, to encourage others to reduce and eliminate these deadly 
infections and to take some of the savings from this and set aside 10 
percent to allow the Secretary of Health to use this for grants back to 
hospitals that reduce their infection rates to zero.
  We have got to transform our health care system into what it needs to 
be: an affordable, accessible, quality health care system that focuses 
on patient safety, patient qualify and patient choice. But in order to 
do that,

[[Page H5985]]

we need to have this information available.
  Now, another sad truth. While I have been speaking, the number of 
cases has gone up. While I have been speaking, another person has died 
in the hospital. While I have been speaking, the costs have gone up 
$100,000.
  Something is terribly wrong with this system. We know hospitals can 
clean this up. We also need to know that we need to stop wasting our 
health care dollars on preventable infections. Let's join together as a 
Nation and pass H.R. 1174.

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