Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

MRSA is the most common hospital-acquired infection in the nation. Invasive MRSA infections occur in nearly 100,000 persons each year in the United States, resulting in approximately 19,000 deaths. A typical MRSA infection costs more than $35,000, compared with less than $14,000 for other hospital acquired infections. Nationally, over $2.5 billion in excess health care costs are attributable to MRSA infections.

GMCF is charged with reducing rates of health care-associated MRSA infections, under the Patient Safety Theme of the 9SOW. The goal of the MRSA Community of Practice (CoP) is to have hospitals report MRSA to the CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), in an effort to reduce infection and transmission rates. Data will be submitted to the NHSN Multi-Drug Resistant Organism (MDRO) module. Participating hospitals will have access to GMCF resources including on-site visits, consultations, intervention strategies and support for data analysis.

Twenty-three states require hospitals to publicly report on health care-associated infections, including three that collect data on methicillin-resistant staph infections, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.