Testimony for Public Hearing MRSA

Good afternoon Senator Handley and Representative Sayers and members of the Public Health Committee. My name is Jean Rexford and I serve as Executive Director of the CT Center for Patient Safety.

I am here today to ask that you strengthen bill number 579. Hospital-acquired infections caused by MRSA are on the rise. In 1974, only 2% of staph infections in health care settings were caused by MRSA; by 1995, the percentage was 22%; and by 2004, MRSA caused nearly 63% of all staph infections in health care settings. Allowing hospitals to move slowly to address this growing problem is unacceptable. They have had years to take action. I would like to see screening be required in their plan.

There is a new test that is cost effective. For as little as $42 per individual, the hospitals can save lives and money. Stamford Hospital has already begun to screen; clearly a business case can be made.

Community MRSA is a reportable condition to the Department of Public Health. I would like to see this legislation amended to include Hospital MRSA in those numbers. I believe that those numbers will be the impetus apparently needed to change their way of doing business. For years hospitals accepted these infections. But over those same years, MRSA has spread and spread rapidly. Recently Dr. Troyen Brennan, Chief Medical Officer at Aetna, told a business reporter that MRSA was widespread throughout the hospital. It is not acceptable. Hospitals that screen greatly reduce the rate of infection.

The CT Center for Patient Safety introduced legislation before this committee two years ago. And it took those two years to finally work out that hospitals would report central line infections in the ICU. That reporting began in January. But that is not enough. Wouldn’t it be far better to stop this deadly epidemic before the ICU? We need and can do more. Some patients are moved to the ICU after they have gotten MRSA in other areas of the hospital. The test for MRSA, recently approved by the FDA, can take as little as 72 minutes and can cost as little as $42 per individual. This is nothing compared to the human and financial costs of acquiring an infection.

Each time I do a radio or TV interview, I get the calls from people who have had MRSA or whose family member had it. These calls do not fall on deaf ears. In one case for one hospital I even called the DPH and asked for an investigation. How can we as a state know what we know and not require a lot more? Infections were once the dirty little secret of the hospitals. They no longer are and they are the reason we all joke about how dangerous it is to go into one.

I urge you to pass strengthened legislation. We are all health care consumers. Think about what each one of us wants for our families and ourselves. I am an activist, not a doctor so I have attached testimony submitted in Maryland by Dr. Jarvis. This clearly outlines what needs to be done and the extent of the problem and screening as a solution.

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