[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 146 (Monday, September 15, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H8105]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         AMERICA'S EPIDEMIC OF HEALTH CARE-ACQUIRED INFECTIONS

  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. Speaker, it seems like every day 
in this House floor we call for a moment of silence to recognize some 
tragic loss of life across our country. And it is fitting that we do 
so.
  If we were to recognize with a moment of silence those who die in 
hospitals from avoidable infections, we would be stopping House 
business many times each day.
  So I am here to express my concern that we continue to ignore the 
increasing problem and potentially fatal epidemic of health care-
acquired infections. Another week goes by and more and more patients 
are becoming infected with preventable infections. And instead of 
tackling this issue head-on, we continue to let the number of cases 
rise. And the costs strains our health care system, and more lives are 
lost.
  Well enough is enough. This year alone, up to today, there have been 
1,243,835 cases of health care-acquired infections. There have been a 
total of 61,562 deaths. And the total cost on our health care system 
has been $31 billion 95 million 999,420.07. By the end of this year, 
that estimate will be $50 billion and 100,000 lives lost.
  Something must be done. We must put self-interests aside and work 
together to improve the safety of our hospitals. And I am committed to 
making sure this happens. That is why I introduced legislation last 
year that saves lives and money, H.R. 1174, the Healthy Hospitals Act. 
And it has received strong bipartisan support and support from consumer 
groups.
  This legislation offers a simple solution to lower the costs 
associated with health care-acquired infections. It is not expensive. 
It simply requires hospitals to publicly disclose their infection rates 
and let the public see this transparently.

                              {time}  2015

  Hospitals should be taking commonsense measures, like washing hands, 
sterilizing equipment between uses, testing patients and giving 
antibiotics at the right time. It is, after all, people's lives we are 
trying to save.
  How can a hospital or health care system argue that they don't want 
to report their infection rates if reporting is shown to save lives? 
How can hospitals complain that they don't want patients to know about 
patient safety and patient quality? Aren't hospitals supposed to be in 
the business of saving lives?
  Hospitals need to be held accountable for opposing legislation, for 
opposing legislation, that would require reporting, because evidence 
shows it makes a difference. In my home State of Pennsylvania, there 
are shining examples of what happens when hospitals are held 
accountable for reporting.
  Hospitals in Pennsylvania are required by State law to make their 
infection rates public, and we have seen the infection rates drop 
dramatically. Some hospitals were able to get to a zero infection rate, 
no lives lost. And here is the mortality statistic. According to the 
Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, the average charge 
of hospitalization for a patient who became infected with a hospital-
acquired infection was $185,000 each, while the average charge for a 
patient without an infection was $31,000. Reporting infections is 
proven to save money and lives.
  Hospitals say ``it will cost us more to keep track of it.'' That 
simply is not true. Isn't this enough to get our hospitals on board? 
Isn't this enough proof to save lives? Our health care system is in 
need of repair, not just simply saying it is too expensive, let's let 
government take it over. It needs to be fixed.
  While we continue to talk about reforming government, cutting costs 
and eliminating funding for infrastructure projects back home, I hope 
my colleagues in the health care industry will support commonsense 
legislation that will save money and lives.
  Public reporting of health care acquired infections is exactly what 
it sounds like, but the benefits of this simple action are far 
reaching. I hope that patients and their families will speak up to 
Members of Congress about the need for this transparency and demand 
such legislation be enacted.
  Mr. Speaker, I encourage all my colleagues and hospitals around the 
country, especially those hospitals that know this saves lives and 
money, to support public reporting of hospital-acquired infections. 
Let's do this right. Let's save lives. After all, the families of so 
many Americans are at stake here. We can act on this. We can make a 
difference. We can save lives and save money.

                          ____________________