AHRQ program lowers central line-associated infections by 40%

A national project targeting central line-associated bloodstream infections has lowered overall rates of such infections by 40% among participating hospitals, according to government data released Monday.

The initiative, funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, is known as the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program, or CUSP, a set of simplified best practices, culture changes and measurement tools used to address safety-related problems in healthcare.

Since AHRQ began a national rollout of the program in 2009, more than 1,100 hospital intensive-care units have joined on to participate and rates of central line-associated bloodstream infections have fallen from 1.903 infections per 1,000 central line days to 1.137 infections per 1,000 central line days, a decrease of just over 40%, the agency said.

“As a result, more than 2,000 CLABSIs were prevented, more than 500 lives were saved and more than $34 million in healthcare costs were avoided,” AHRQ said in a fact sheet about the newly released data.

Central line-associated bloodstream infections result in thousands of deaths and $700 million in healthcare costs each year, according to data from the CMS.

Developed by Dr. Peter Pronovost, director of the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality at Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, CUSP was used in a much-publicized project that lowered central-line infection rates in Michigan intensive-care units to nearly zero.

Following the success of that effort, AHRQ announced in late 2008 that it had expanded the program to 10 states. In 2009, in partnership with the Health Research and Educational Trust, AHRQ funded a national expansion of the program.

“It is gratifying that this method has become such a powerful engine for improving the quality and safety of care nationwide,” said Pronovost, in a news release (PDF). “It is a really simple concept; trust the wisdom of your front-line clinicians.”

According to previous progress reports issued by AHRQ, central line-associated bloodstream infection rates among participating hospitals fell 35% as of November 2010. Progress slowed slightly, according to the next report, which showed a 33% reduction as of June 2011.