Method for measuring the incidence of hospital acquired infections

Abstract

Disclosed is a method and system for analyzing patient hospitalization data to determine a Nosocomial Infection Marker (NIM), the method comprising receiving from a database hospitalization data associated with at least one patient, calculating from the hospitalization data the number of specimens with non-duplicate hospital isolates (SNDHI) markers, calculating from the hospitalization data antibiotic utilization criteria (AUC) markers, and determining the nosocomial infection marker (NIM) for each patient, based upon the calculated. SNDHI and AUC markers.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for predicting profitability of a class of patients, comprising:
 developing a marker identifying patients that are likely to have an extended hospital stay or are likely to incur excessive variable costs, wherein the marker is based on one or more isolates obtained from specimens collected from the patient or antimicrobials given to the patient, and information regarding costs incurred by the hospitalized patients; and   determining, based on the marker, whether a particular patient class is likely to be profitable.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of developing the marker includes eliminating certain isolates from consideration. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one isolate eliminated comprises, coagulase-negative staphylococci from respiratory specimens, viridans group streptococci from respiratory specimens,  Candida  species from respiratory specimens,  Aspergillus  species from upper respiratory specimens, coagulase-negative  Staphylococcus  species,  Bacillus  species,  corynebacteria  species, diptheroids isolated from broth or liquid laboratory culture media, isolates in which no microorganism species is named, isolates obtained from decubitus specimens, isolates obtained from species that grow over a predetermined number of distinct microorganisms, isolates collected from surveillance specimens when no infection at the species source is suspected, isolates from environmental specimens, isolates from gynecology specimens excluding surgical wounds, isolates from dermatology specimens, or urine isolates that yield fewer than 10,000 colonies/cc of urine. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein duplicate isolates are eliminated. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein duplicate isolates are isolates of the same microorganisms collected from a patient during a predetermined period of time and, if said isolates are tested against antimicrobial drugs, having antimicrobial susceptibly results differing on fewer than a predetermined number of tested drugs. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of developing a marker includes identifying specimens having non-duplicate hospital isolates, wherein the marker is developed based on the identified specimens. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the step of developing a marker further comprises:
 eliminating isolates associated with specimen contamination;   identifying hospital isolates as those obtained from specimens collected from patients during or after hospitalization;   identifying specimens having the hospital isolates; and   counting specimens having hospital isolates for each hospitalization.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of developing the marker further comprises:
 identifying patient admits where antimicrobials were dispensed during the course of hospitalization; and   assigning one antibiotic utilization criteria to each hospitalization identified in the previous step when antimicrobials were started on or after hospital day N (N>0) and were given for at least X consecutive days or until discharge or death, wherein X is greater than 0.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising determining the existence of a nosocomial infection marker for the patient by setting the number of nosocomial infection markers equal to the number of antibiotic utilization criteria assigned to the patient. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising determining the existence of a nosocomial infection marker for the patient by setting the number of nosocomial infection markers equal to the number of specimens with non-duplicate hospital isolates associated with the patient. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the step of developing a marker further comprises:
 eliminating isolates associated with surveillance.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the step of developing a marker further comprises:
 eliminating isolates associated with non-infected clinical states.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the marker comprises a nosocomial infection marker that is calculated based on the number of specimens having non-duplicate hospital isolates markers. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising determine the financial impact of hospital acquired infections based on comparing the profit/loss of patients associated with one or more nosocomial infection markers with the profit/loss of patients associated with no nosocomial infection markers. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the marker is further based on laboratory data. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the marker is further based on pharmacy ordering and dispensing data. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the marker is further based on patient census data. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the marker is further based on Admit-Transfer-Discharge data. 
     
     
         19 . A system for predicting profitability of a class of patients, the system comprising:
 one or more memories configured to store instructions;   one or more processors, coupled to the one or memories and configured to execute the instructions stored thereon in order to:
 develop a marker identifying patients that are likely to have an extended hospital stay or are likely to incur excessive variable costs, wherein the marker is based on one or more isolates obtained from specimens collected from the patient or antimicrobials given to the patient, and information regarding costs incurred by the hospitalized patients; and 
 determine, based on the marker, whether a particular patient class is likely to be profitable. 
   
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising machine-readable instructions for causing a processor to execute a method for predicting profitability of a class of patients, the method comprising:
 developing a marker identifying patients that are likely to have an extended hospital stay or are likely to incur excessive variable costs, wherein the marker is based on one or more isolates obtained from specimens collected from the patient or antimicrobials given to the patient, the isolates comprising the remaining isolates after certain isolates are eliminated from consideration, and information regarding costs incurred by the hospitalized patients; and   determining, based on the marker, whether a particular patient class is likely to be profitable.