Estimating the savings of a national project to prevent healthcare-associated infections in intensive care units

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) have a significant impact on patients' morbidity and mortality, and have a detrimental financial impact on the healthcare system. Various strategies exist to prevent HAIs, but economic evaluations are needed to determine which are most appropriate. To pre...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of hospital infection 2024-01, Vol.143, p.8-17
Main Authors: Oliveira, R.M.C., de Sousa, A.H.F., de Salvo, M.A., Petenate, A.J., Gushken, A.K.F., Ribas, E., Torelly, E.M.S., Silva, K.C.C.D., Bass, L.M., Tuma, P., Borem, P., Ue, L.Y., de Barros, C.G., Vernal, S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bloodstream infection
Catheter-Related Infections - epidemiology
Catheter-Related Infections - prevention & control
Cross Infection - epidemiology
Cross Infection - prevention & control
Delivery of Health Care
Financial management
Healthcare-associated infections
Humans
Intensive care unit
Intensive Care Units
Pneumonia, Ventilator-Associated - epidemiology
Pneumonia, Ventilator-Associated - prevention & control
Prevention and control
Quality improvement
Urinary tract infection
Urinary Tract Infections - prevention & control
Ventilator-associated pneumonia
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) have a significant impact on patients' morbidity and mortality, and have a detrimental financial impact on the healthcare system. Various strategies exist to prevent HAIs, but economic evaluations are needed to determine which are most appropriate. To present the financial impact of a nationwide project on HAI prevention in intensive care units (ICUs) using a quality improvement (QI) approach. A health economic evaluation assessed the financial results of the QI initiative ‘Saúde em Nossas Mãos’ (SNM), implemented in Brazil between January 2018 and December 2020. Among 116 participating institutions, 13 (11.2%) fully reported the aggregate cost and stratified patients (with vs without HAIs) in the pre-intervention and post-intervention periods. Average cost (AC) was calculated for each analysed HAI: central-line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs). The absorption model and time-driven activity-based costing were used for cost estimations. The numbers of infections that the project could have prevented during its implementation were estimated to demonstrate the financial impact of the SNM initiative. The aggregated ACs calculated for each HAI from these 13 ICUs – US$8480 for CLABSIs, US$10,039 for VAP, and US$7464 for CAUTIs – were extrapolated to the total number of HAIs prevented by the project (1727 CLABSIs, 3797 VAP and 2150 CAUTIs). The overall savings of the SNM as of December 2020 were estimated at US$68.8 million, with an estimated return on investment (ROI) of 765%. Reporting accurate financial data on HAI prevention strategies is still challenging in Brazil. These results suggest that a national QI initiative to prevent HAIs in critical care settings is a feasible and value-based approach, reducing financial waste and yielding a significant ROI for the healthcare system.
ISSN:0195-6701
1532-2939
DOI:10.1016/j.jhin.2023.10.001