California Not Among States Participating in Anti-Infection Program

California is not among at least 44 states that have joined a program aimed at reducing hospital-acquired infections, the Sacramento Bee reports.

The California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting contributed to this report. CHCF publishes California Healthline.

Program Details

Peter Pronovost -- a physician and professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine -- developed the infection-reduction model in an effort to reduce infections at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Changes Pronovost instituted include:

• Creating a checklist to ensure that health care workers use proper equipment and clean hands to insert and remove central lines; and
• Encouraging nurses and other workers to question health care providers who fail to follow infection-prevention protocols.

Provonost then worked with hospitals in Michigan to develop an infection-prevention program for 75 facilities. With support from the American Hospital Association, the infection-prevention model has spread to numerous states across the country.

California Not Participating

However, the California Hospital Association turned down an invitation to participate in the program two years ago, saying the state's hospitals would implement their own infection-control programs.

Rory Jaffe, executive director of a patient safety group associated with CHA, said, "I wouldn't say we're turning our back on the (Provonost) program," adding that California hospitals are showing progress in their own efforts to fight infections.

For example, a group of 38 hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area recently achieved a significant reduction in hospital-acquired infections. Officials are designing a similar program for medical facilities in the Central Valley and Sacramento areas (Schoch, Sacramento Bee, 5/31).