Caution urged on infection rate data

The Patriot-News, April 17, 2008

The Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center supports telling the public about its infection rates, despite the medical center having Pennsylvania's highest infection rate in a recent report. The report looks at infections that strike patients after they enter the hospital, and nearly five out of every 100 patients came down with an infection at Hershey. The authors of the report by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council warned people not to use the infection rates to make harsh judgments or compare hospitals, saying the process of reporting infections is complicated and new. Some hospitals might not even be detecting or reporting all of their infections, the council added.