In 2024, Oregon hospitals were, disappointingly, underperforming on national standards for preventing infections related to medical procedures and surgeries, as reported by the Oregon Health Authority. A concerning trend emerged as Oregon’s hospitals fared worse than their national counterparts, exhibiting higher rates of surgical site infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, central line-associated infections, and infections related to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, MRSA. The only area where most Oregon hospitals managed to meet the federal standards was in controlling infections caused by Clostridioides difficile.
The significance of these findings is immense, considering hospital-acquired infections lead to the demise of approximately 99,000 people each year in the U.S. Many of these infections are preventable if rigorous hygiene practices involving thorough hand washing by staff, visitors, and patients, and meticulous cleaning of hospital premises and machinery are implemented. Bringing these infections under control is a priority for both state and federal bodies. To this end, they have established targets for the period 2024 to 2028, compared against a 2022 baseline. Deviations from these standards may invite penalties for hospitals.
To better understand and control the spread of hospital-acquired infections, The Health Authority maintains a dashboard that tracks five types of these infections, providing valuable data for hospitals and healthcare providers for improving their infection control strategies. The national targets set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services aim at a significant reduction in various types of infections ranging from bloodstream, surgical site, and MRSA to urinary tract infections. The data indicated that higher surgical site infection rates in 2024 were associated with specific procedures including colon procedures, coronary artery bypass grafts, hysterectomies, and hip replacements.
Interestingly, infection rates associated with knee replacements showed a 5% decrease. The data also shows disparity in infection rates between different hospitals and within hospital systems. While some hospitals showed zero surgical site infection, 11 showed an increase over 2023. The rates varied within hospital systems as well; while some facilities within Asante, Legacy, Providence and Samaritan saw an increase, others reported none. The health authority also compares the data between large acute care hospitals and smaller critical access hospitals, and interestingly, the smaller establishments showed higher infection rates in certain areas, but lower rates of catheter-associated urinary tract infections.
Overall, Providence’s hospitals performed well, except for its Medford facility. Kaiser Permanente’s two Portland area hospitals saw an improvement in some areas but an increase in others. The organization affirmed their dedication to infection control and highlighted continuous review of performance data, reinforcement of best practices and targeted interventions as part of their action plan.