A 7-year analysis of attributable costs of healthcare-associated infections in a network of community hospitals in the southeastern United States.
Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) remain a significant cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients and a source of financial burden to the healthcare system. Researchers in this study estimated the attributable costs of central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), hospital-onset Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI-HO), and surgical site infections (SSI) across 45 hospitals between January 2016 and December 2022. Event rates ranged from 0.34 events per 1,000 patient days (CDI-HO) to 0.87 events per 1,000 procedures (SSI), with events costing nearly $1 million per hospital on an annual basis.