This week the Tennessee Department of Health is releasing a report on healthcare associated infections and, for the first time, an annual report on healthcare associated infections for healthcare consumers. Full versions of these reports are available online at: http://tn.gov/health/topic/hai

The new report targeted to healthcare consumers compares the performance of each Tennessee hospital to the national experience on five types of healthcare-associated infections, HAIs, and healthcare worker seasonal flu vaccination. The report also includes information and additional resources for consumers for understanding HAI data.

The technical version of the report includes statewide HAI data for Tennessee acute care hospitals, long-term acute care facilities and inpatient rehabilitation facilities as well as facility specific data for acute care hospitals. This is the 10th report published by TDH since 2010 and presents information on five types of HAIs: central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, CAUTI, surgical site infections, laboratory-identified methicillin-resistant Staphyloccus aureus, MRSA bacteremia, and Clostridium difficile infections, as well as healthcare worker flu vaccination data.

On average, 82.8% of healthcare workers in Tennessee hospitals had documented vaccination for seasonal influenza for the 2014/2015 flu season, which lasted from October of 2014 to March of 2015. Some 33 Tennessee hospitals met the U.S. Health and Human Services Department's 2020 healthy people goal of 90% flu vaccination.

The report highlights the impressive progress Tennessee hospitals have made preventing HAIs over time. In 2014, Tennessee hospitals were 54% below the national baseline for central line-associated bloodstream infections in adult and pediatric intensive care units (ICUs) and 66% below the national baseline in neonatal ICUs. This demonstrates significant progress since Tennessee hospitals began reporting these measures in 2008.

Even with these successes, there are still opportunities for improvement in other types of HAIs, including catheter-associated urinary tract infections. Tennessee hospitals were 22% higher than the national baseline for CAUTI in adult and pediatric ICUs in 2014.