Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach Prevents Deadly Infections in Pediatric Patients – Helping Save $100 Million in Health Care Costs

LONG BEACH, Calif., Oct. 11, 2011 – The pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and the John Jaques Children’s Cancer Center at Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach have been participating in a five-year quality improvement initiative with the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI) to eradicate central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSI). In collaboration with more than 80 other children’s hospitals nationwide, NACHRI’s Quality Transformation Network (QTN), which Miller Children’s is a part of, has saved 355 children’s lives, prevented 2,964 central line infections and passed the $100 million mark for total cost savings.

Most recently, the PICU at Miller Children’s has made excellent strides in infection control. The unit had only one catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) since January 2010 and has gone 11 months without a single hospital-acquired infection. The PICU has consistently met the National Health Safety Network target for infection prevention and when compared with other nationwide PICUs, Miller Children’s is in the top 10 percentile for preventing catheter associated blood stream infections, CAUTIs and ventilator associated pneumonias. Since December 2009, the PICU has been able to prevent twelve infections, including one death and has saved more than $420,000.

From the more than 30 hematology/oncology units in the NACHRI collaborative, the group of hospitals has been able to prevent sixteen deaths and a cost savings of more than $4 million.

“NACHRI congratulates Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach on this well-timed milestone,” said Lawrence McAndrews, president and CEO of NACHRI. “Together children’s hospitals have successfully eliminated $100 million in preventable hospital costs at a time when legislators are making decisions about critical health care funding. Children’s hospitals are demonstrating that they are leaders in pioneering quality improvement solutions that not only save money but most importantly save lives.”

Central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSIs) are infections that occur in patients’ central venous catheters (a central line is flexible medical tubing inserted into the body). They are also a preventable harm that carries a price tag of at least $25,000-$45,000 per event and a 10 percent to 20 percent mortality risk for children.

“As the NACHRI QTN enters its sixth year, our faculty and clinical teams in children’s hospitals are continually pushing to improve care for our patients,” said NACHRI Quality Transformation Vice President Marlene Miller, M.D., MSc. “Because the pediatric community is small and nimble, we can spread proven practice opportunities more rapidly, providing better quality care for children at lower overall costs.” With 162 units from 88 hospitals, 40 percent of NACHRI’s 220 member hospitals have participated to date in this national effort to eradicate pediatric CLABSIs as well as other healthcare associated infections.

In adult intensive care, CLABSIs have been significantly decreased through a multi-faceted intervention. Until the NACHRI QTN, the efficacy of the adult intervention in pediatric patients was unknown. Using a model distinguished by collaboration combined with rigorous methodologies, tightly coordinated implementation and rich large data sets, NACHRI QTN hospitals have learned that reducing CLABSI events requires an approach combining evidence-based guidelines for catheter insertion with daily maintenance care for central lines. In fact the main driver in reducing CLABSI infections is the reliable use of the recommended daily maintenance care for central lines.

A January 2010 Pediatrics journal article published the first set of findings of the NACHRI QTN that clearly differentiate the affect of insertion-related practices, well documented in adult-patient academic literature as driving the reduction of CLABSIs in intensive care, from maintenance-related practices that are predictive of being able to reduce children’s CLABSI rates. It will publish updated findings from the NACHRI QTN in an upcoming issue.

About NACHRI:

The National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions is a membership organization of more than 200 children’s hospitals in the United States, Canada and abroad. NACHRI promotes the health and well-being of children and their families through support of children’s hospitals and health systems that are committed to excellence in providing health care to children.

About Miller Children’s HospitalLong Beach:

Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach provides specialized pediatric care for children and young adults, with conditions ranging from common to complex - as well as maternity care for expectant mothers - all under one roof. Only five percent of all hospitals are children’s hospitals, making them unique not only to children’s health care needs in the community, but across the region. Miller Children’s is one of only eight free-standing children’s hospitals in California - treating more than 8,000 children each year - and has become a regional pediatric destination for more than 84,000 children, who need specialized care in the outpatient specialty and satellite centers. Miller Children’s is currently undertaking a major expansion project to expand the pediatric cancer center, neonatal intensive care unit and the MemorialCare Center for Women. Visit MillerChildren.org, like us on Facebook.com/MillerChildrensHospital and follow us at tweets@millerchildrens.