When it comes to hospital-acquired infections, it's just a parade of sobering statistics.

Among them are these:

  • One out of every 20 patients admitted to a U.S. hospital gets an infection that he or she didn't have when entering the facility
  • Around 1.7 million patients are infected each year
  • Hospital-developed infection is a top-10 cause of death nationally
  • Hospital infections kill close to 100,000 patients each year and result in health care spending of more than $30 billion

Those facts spur heavy concern, and the federal government and health insurers are leaning hard on hospitals to take steps to reduce infections acquired in house.

A collation of 160 California hospitals is at the forefront of a sustained campaign to do so, and for good reason: Infections kill about 12,000 patients in the state's hospitals each year and add about $600 million in health care costs.

The California initiative was launched about 19 months ago, and those closely involved with it say that closer attention to hygiene practices, germ-fighting strategies and stringent patient-care protocols is paying dividends: Reportedly, incidents of ventilator-associated pneumonia are down by more than 40 percent and urinary tract infections have fallen by about one fourth.

"We're definitely making progress," says one infection prevention specialist.

Another states that focusing on "some very simple things" is actually the core principle underlying attempts to reduce infections. Solutions are often not deeply hidden, with rigid adherence to best practices yielding quick and impressive results. Facilities with comparatively low patient infection rates stress hand washing, keeping equipment sterile, attending closely to patients' hygiene, adhering to safety checklists, and maintaining comprehensive and accurate medical records.

Since its inception, the California program is estimated to have saved about 800 lives and lowered health care costs in the state by approximately $11 million.

Related Resource: Los Angeles Times, "Hospital-related infections drop under California initiative" Aug. 23, 2011