Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

5 INFECTION CONTROL HCA's 'smoke detector for sepsis' tool By Mariah Taylor T housand Oaks, Calif.-based HCA Healthcare's Los Robles Health System has created a tool that acts as a "smoke detector for sepsis," according to an Aug. 26 news release shared with Becker's. e algorithmic tool, Sepsis Prediction and Optimization of erapy, is designed to detect early warning signs of sepsis and enable care teams to respond faster. "Sepsis is a medical emergency that must be treated as urgently as a heart attack or stroke," Gabriella Sherman, MD, chief medical officer of HCA Healthcare's Los Robles Health System, said in the release. "By using SPOT, we can identify subtle but critical changes in a patient's condition hours earlier than traditional methods, giving our teams the ability to intervene quickly and save lives." SPOT continuously monitors clinical data to spot patterns. If a dangerous pattern consistent with sepsis is detected, an alert is sent directly to the clinical teams' mobile devices, prompting them to assess the patient and begin treatment if sepsis is confirmed. e tool rolled out in 2018 and is used by HCA Healthcare hospitals nationwide. In HCA hospitals in California and Nevada alone, more than 3,000 patients with septic shock or severe sepsis have been treated in 2025, with a nearly 90% survival rate. On average, patients were screened within 12 minutes of the SPOT alert. n Hospitals lose millions managing recurrent C. diff, study suggests By Mariah Taylor R ecurring Clostridioides difficile infections could be costing hospitals millions, an AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center study found. The study, published Sept. 29 in Cambridge Core, included 29 patients from Pomano, N.J.-based AtlantiCare Regional who had three or more inpatient admissions due to C. diff from January 2017 to December 2020. Researchers used the patient medical records to determine the total hospitalization costs for these patients. The 29 patients accounted for 108 admissions, 1,006 inpatient hospital days and 74 days in the ICU over the study period. Patients had a median of three admissions, with a median length of stay of seven days. Researchers estimated the total hospitalization costs were $3,352,400, and the estimated reimbursement received by the hospital was $1,119,043. "Thus, we estimated that the community teaching hospital had a net loss of $2,232,997 over the four-year period due to C. diff infection-related hospitalizations," the study authors wrote. "This translates to a net loss per patient of approximately $77,000 over the four-year study period." Researchers added that their analysis may underestimate the true financial losses associated with recurring C. diff infections since their analysis assumed full reimbursement. n Measles outbreak grows as virus season ramps up: 5 updates By Paige Twenter e CDC has confirmed 1,723 measles cases as of Nov. 12 — a more than 500% increase from 2024, when 285 U.S. cases were confirmed. e measles outbreak has progressively worsened. Nearly every state has reported measles cases, except for Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina and West Virginia, according to the CDC. Texas is home to the most acute outbreak, with 803 confirmed cases. Arizona and Montana follow with 124 and 100, respectively. Here are five things to know: 1. Eighty-seven percent of confirmed measles cases this year are associated with one of the 45 outbreaks. In 2024, 69% of cases (198 of 285) were outbreak-associated. 2. Twelve percent of measles cases have been hospitalized, accounting for 206 of the 1,723 cases. About 1 in 5 measles patients younger than 5 have been hospitalized, as well as 11% of patients ages 20 or older and 6% of those between 5 and 19 years old. 3. Among the confirmed cases, 92% are either unvaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status. 4. ere have been three confirmed deaths from measles in 2025 so far. 5. e steady increase in measles cases coincides with the 2024-25 respiratory virus season, which is seeing early strains. Emergency department visits for respiratory syncytial virus have recently risen among children under 4, and a more-severe influenza strain has caused unusually early and severe outbreaks in Canada, the U.K. and Japan — drawing an uncertain picture of this virus season. n

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