What one state gives, another takes away! Posted by mitcka at 04/09/05 06:00 PM

Virginia just passed a bill to give you information about hospital infections in Virgina hospitals. That same information won't be available in Maryland, where the Senate just killed HB 199.

Virginia just joined four other states that are leading the nation in hospital accountability. Virginia hospitals will soon report their hospital-acquired infection rates. Del. Harry R. Purkey, Republican from Virginia Beach, was a determined sponsor, having personally suffered from a hospital-acquired infection. The Times-Dispatch covered his story on May 28th, 2004:

When Del. Harry R. Purkey, R-Virginia Beach, checked into a hospital several years ago after being injured in a car wreck, he ended up staying longer than expected when he developed an infection he didn't have going in.

"I had to stay several extra days to have it cured," said Purkey, who for the past two General Assembly sessions has offered legislation that would require hospitals to report infections to the state to help consumers decide which hospitals are safest.

Purkey introduced the legislation after finding out his hospital-acquired infection was not that unusual, a fact repeated by experts Wednesday at a conference in Richmond on patient safety.

Missouri hospital epidemiologist David K. Warren said an estimated 2.1 million hospital-acquired infections, or nosocomial infections, occur every year, affecting about 5.7 percent of all hospital admissions.

His bill to publish infection rates became the law of the land when Governor Mark Warner signed it.

Then, there’s Maryland. What’s up here? The bill (HB199) by Delegate Shane Pendergrass, Democrat from Howard County, had been significantly amended to get the hospitals and the Maryland Health Care Commission state agency to sign off on it.

It passed the Assembly 133-4 with 44 co-sponsors (!) and no opposition witnesses in the Senate Finance Committee. Yet the committee killed it. Let’s tell them all how unhappy we are about this! Pendergrass told us she is committed to running the bill again next year. If you live in Maryland, you can tell the Senate committee how unhappy you are here.

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