- A 2 year study at Plymouth Hospital Trust has found that median additional LOS attributable to surgical site infection (SSI) was 10 days and median additional cost attributable to SSI was £5,239.
- After calculating the opportunity cost of eliminating all SSIs that had occurred in the two-year period, the combined overall predicted financial benefit of doing so would have been only £694,007 compared to the aggregate extra cost of £2,491,424
- For seven surgical categories, the hospital would have been financially worse off if had it successfully eliminated all SSIs.
- Conclusion: SSI causes significant clinical and economic burden. Nevertheless the current system of reimbursement provided a financial disincentive to their reduction.
- Abstract
26 November 2013
Research shows that hospitals could be financially worse-off by reducing post-surgical infection rates
Clinical and economic burden of surgical site infection and predicted financial consequences of elimination of SSI from an English hospital (Journal of Hospital Infection, in press, 2013)
