New infection guidelines show significant impact on hospital infections.

Bloomberg News reported today that the Department of Healthand Human Services has concluded that the rate of four common hospital ("nosocomial") infections dropped significantly in 2010.  The number of patients who acquired methicillin-resistant Staph (MRSA) declined by 18 percent.  There was also a 33 percent reduction in bloodstream infections (sepsis) caused by insertion of central lines.  Surgical-site infections were reduced by ten percent and urinary tract infections were down by seven percent. 

These developments are not coincidental. They arise out of work by Johns Hopkins and the University of Michigan in popularizing the institutionalization of basic infection-preventing measures and the federal government's decision to reduce reimbursement of expenses resulting from preventable infections.