Hospital Parting Gifts? MRSA and a $60k tab…

December 21st, 2009. By AbiK

A lot of websites have an “editorial calendar” that they try to stick to. But when you’re site also relies on the news-of-the-minute, well, coincidences occur—and one just happened at LawyersAndSettlements.com. Earlier today, we published an interview Jane did with an MRSA victim, David. No sooner had I read the interview, and right there in my inbox were the results of a study on post-surgery MRSA infection and its associated costs. (And David may have gotten off cheap, believe it or not).

It seems, according to the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE, Duke University Medical Center conducted a study that examined the 90-day post-operative outcomes of 659 patients whose incisions had either become infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or with methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA). Some of the 659 patients had no infection.

Here’s what they found…

• Post-operative patients with MRSA were 35 times more likely to be readmitted
• Patients with MRSA were seven times more likely to die within 90 days compared to uninfected surgical patients
• These patients required more than 3 weeks additional hospitalization

and…here’s the mind-blower (my estimation) of the study…

• These patients accrued more than $60,000 in additional charges

For those of you who are having trouble putting that one in perspective, $60k can get you a 2010 BMW 5 Series (above) or roughly 14,634 venti latte’s at Starbucks, for those of us not in the BMW market.

How did MRSA stack up against MSSA? Well, those with MRSA averaged 6 more days in the hospital and $24,000 more in hospital charges. But, the risk of death was not significantly different between the two types of infection.

So apparently, as if the infection itself weren’t bad enough, then you’ve got your insurance company’s Statement of Benefits to look forward to…cha-ching…

Tags: Hospital Infection, MRSA, MSSA

This was posted on Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 5:53 pm and is filed under Drugs/Medical . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.