Hosps must tell of infections
Albany
Originally
published on
Gov. Pataki ended weeks of silence on the issue by signing the
measure yesterday, which was backed by a battery of health-care experts
including his former lieutenant governor, Betsy McCaughey.
"This is a victory for patients over secrecy," McCaughey
said yesterday.
"When you have to be hospitalized, you should be able to find
out which hospital in your own area has a serious infection problem."
Hospitals will have to file reports with the state Health
Department within two years on the number of infections their patients contract
while getting treatment. The Health Department is expected to begin sharing
that data with the public by 2008.
Too often, hospitals do not do enough to enforce their own rules
on combating infection, said Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard
Gottfried (D-Manhattan), a prime sponsor of the measure.
"We know how to control infection," Gottfried said.
"The question is making sure that everyone in the hospital does what they
are supposed to do, and that's what this new system will encourage every
hospital to do."
Pataki also signed legislation that allows