HOUSTON—According to the latest available data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4% of patients acquire an infection while hospitalized, with as many as 75,000 dying each year because of it. In fact, according to The Center for Health Design, hospital-acquired infections, or nosocomial infections, are one of the leading causes of death in the United States and typically affect patients whose immune systems are compromised. Nosocomial infections are transmitted in hospitals through three main environmental routes—air, surface contact and water. Airborne infections are spread when dust and pathogens are released during hospital renovation and construction activities, and due to contamination and malfunction of the hospital ventilation system, GlobeSt.com learns.

What if a healthcare facility could be designed and managed in a way that helps to control and reduce healthcare-associated infections? More than just a daydream, the thought is a clinical goal and business necessity for the leaders of the nation's hospitals and health systems, according to JLL Healthcare Solutions. The pressure to control and reduce healthcare-acquired infections is coming at hospitals and health systems from all directions: for one, the demand for performance transparency. In 2011, the government started requiring hospitals to report infections to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and post them on a government website as part of the Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

From another direction is the growing healthcare consumerism movement in which patients actively shop around and choose hospitals that offer the safest care, including the lowest risk of infection.

From a third direction is the boom in value-based reimbursement models and government programs that pay—or penalize—hospitals based on the quality, safety and cost-effectiveness of the care provided. In December 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid announced that 758 hospitals would have Medicare payments in fiscal year 2016 reduced by an aggregate total of $364 million because hospital-acquired condition reduction rates were higher than expected the previous fiscal year.

“Physical space and how it's designed, used, maintained and managed is the first line of defense against the spread of infections at healthcare facilities,” Michael Marsh, managing director of Healthcare Solutions for JLL's South Central Region, tells GlobeSt.com. “Unfortunately, these solutions are underutilized or even overlooked in many infection control and patient safety strategies. With the stakes so high in terms of risk to patient safety, compliance and avoidable healthcare costs, it's important for healthcare executives to consider real-estate related tactics in their fight against healthcare-acquired infections.”

Hospital and health system executives are making the control and reduction of healthcare-acquired infections one of the top clinical and financial priorities. But making it a priority and doing something about it are two different things, says JLL Healthcare Solutions. The best way is to inform and educate senior healthcare leaders about using facility design, operations and management—three often overlooked yet powerful strategies—to control and reduce healthcare-acquired infections.

Many hospitals and health systems outsource facilities or plant management functions to outside contractors and vendors. Among those functions are HVAC services, janitorial services and building maintenance. All are essential to the successful operation of a healthcare facility, yet all are potential sources of the spread of healthcare-acquired infections. Consequently, it's important for hospitals and health systems to actively monitor and manage the adherence by outside contractors to infection-control policies, says JLL. If you don't know who is coming in and out of your facility to do work on a daily basis, you have a huge gap in your infection-control program, says Sydney Scarborough, managing director at JLL Healthcare Solutions.

As previously reported, ACA has accelerated the evolution of healthcare facility design.

From another direction is the growing healthcare consumerism movement in which patients actively shop around and choose hospitals that offer the safest care, including the lowest risk of infection.

As previously reported, ACA has accelerated the evolution of healthcare facility design.

Instant Insights /

Know Outsourced Vendors to Reduce Healthcare Infections

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