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Improving Patient SafetyIndependence Blue Cross is proud to be part of Fight MRSA!, the nation’s first collaborative of hospitals, city and county public health departments, nursing homes and schools working together to prevent the spread of Methicillin-resistant Staphylcoccus aureus bacteria, or MRSA. Fight MRSA! is coordinated by The Health Care Improvement Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving patient safety in southeastern Pennsylvania. Fight MRSA! is also the most recent initiative of the Partnership for Patient Care, a multi-year patient safety effort developed by the Foundation and Independence Blue Cross (IBC) and funded by area hospitals and IBC. IBC and the Foundation, with strong support from area hospitals, launched the Partnership for Patient Care in 2005 to enhance patient care in our region’s hospitals. This three-year initiative followed a successful earlier effort by IBC and the Foundation, which became a nationally recognized model to improve medication safety at hospitals. Last year, the Partnership focused on reducing health-acquired infections (HAIs) by developing techniques used at hospitals to prevent surgical site and central-line associated blood stream infections and other sources of HAIs. This effort achieved significant improvements in related safety practices in hospitals across the region. IBC has provided $1.25M in funding to the Partnership for Patient Care. What is MRSA?MRSA is a type of staph bacteria that often lives in the noses and on the skin of healthy people and spreads from person to person on contaminated hands, skin, and objects. Some staph bacteria, like MRSA, cannot be killed by certain antibiotics commonly used to treat staph. MRSA can cause skin infections that may look like a pimple or boil and can be red, swollen, painful, or have pus or other drainage. More serious infections may cause pneumonia, bloodstream infections, or surgical wound infections. Recently, several MRSA infections have been reported at area schools in several counties, including, Philadelphia, Delaware, Bucks and Montgomery. While the incidences of MRSA in our region are still relatively few and contained, a massive spread of the infection could be devastating for our community, and add millions of dollars to our region’s health care expenses. PA legislation to improve patient safetyPennsylvania leads the nation in efforts to monitor and publicly report infections such as MRSA. In July 2005, Pennsylvania became the first state to publicly report the incidence of health care-associated infections by hospital. The recently enacted Act 52, The Health Care-Associated Infection Prevention and Control Act, supports increased MRSA surveillance in health care settings. Here are some useful resources that will help you learn more about this serious illness and protect yourself and your loved ones. If you have further questions about MRSA, we encourage you to talk to your health care provider. MRSA: Understand your risk and how to prevent infection
Press release: Independence Blue Cross Participates in New Coalition to Fight MRSA Infections |