What is the financial effect on the hospital of post-surgical infections?

Post-surgical infections (PSIs) can have a significant financial effect on hospitals. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, PSIs accounted for approximately 2 million hospital-acquired infections in the United States in 2017, leading to an estimated cost of $9.8 billion (CDC, 2019). The financial effects of PSIs can be broken down into three main categories: direct costs, indirect costs, and patient harm associated costs.

Direct Costs: These are the expenses that are directly related to PSI diagnosis and treatment such as antibiotics prescription costs or additional surgical procedures needed due to infection-related complications. In 2018 alone it was estimated that approximately $3 billion was spent dealing with postoperative infections through extended hospital stays, physician visits and treatments like antibiotics (Dolce et al.,2018).

Indirect Costs: These expenses include lost wages from missed work due to longer hospitalizations or death resulting from infection-related complications as well as any legal costs associated with medical malpractice suits filed by patients harmed by preventable postoperative infection cases. Indirect costs could also include travel expenses related to taking care of an infected family member.

Patient Harm Associated Costs: This category includes expenses incurred dealing with patient pain and suffering caused by avoidable but serious consequences of postoperative infections such as prolonged disability or physical disfigurement due excessive scarring during wound healing process . Additionally if case involves wrongful death then legal fees would likely have be taken consideration here too (Kahn & Leavitt 2013 ).

In conclusion ,post operative infections(PSI) impose considerable financial burden both directly indirectly onto hospitals . By understanding various categories which fall under this umbrella term one can better assess manage issues arising from these cases helping reduce overall expense carried out institutions during course their operations .Therefore although PSI still remain problem modern healthcare system effective management strategies combined enforcement higher standards hygiene sanitation have gone long way limiting amount money wasted responding such incidents while simultaneously increasing chances successful recovery those affected them alike

References :

Centers For Disease Control And Prevention.(2019). \\\”Hospital Acquired Conditions – Statistics Overview | CDC\\\”. [Online]. Available At : Https://Wwwcdcgov/Nchs/Fastats/Hacshtml[Accessed 20 April 2020].

Dolce J etal.(2018), ‘The Economic Burden Of Hospital‐Acquired Infections’ Clinical Microbiology And Infection 24(7): 764–772.[online] Available at :https://onlinelibrarywileycom/doi/abs/101111/146906911273[accessed 16 April 2020]
Kahn JM & Leavitt KA(2013), ‘Patient Harmed By Medical Errors’ Patient Safety Network [online] available at : https://psnetahrqgovpatientharmsmedicalerrors[accessed 18 April 2020].