Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1543613
10 QUALITY IMPROVEMENT & MEASUREMENT HAI rates drop in acute care hospitals: CDC By Paige Twenter I n 2024, the rate of six healthcare-associated infections commonly reported in acute care hospitals declined from the year prior, according to a CDC report published Jan. 29. The annual report summarizes HAI rates across acute care hospitals, long-term acute care hospitals, critical access hospitals and inpatient rehabilitation facilities. The HAIs are: central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, ventilator-associated events, surgical site infections, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream events and Clostridioides difficile events. In acute care hospitals, there was an average 8% national increase in abdominal hysterectomy SSIs between 2023 and 2024. The rate of six other HAIs declined: CLABSI (-9%), CAUTI (-10%), VAE (-2%), colon surgery SSI (-4%), hospital onset MRSA bloodstream event (-7%) and hospital onset C. diff infection (-11%). With 1 in 31 acute care patients contracting an HAI, the recent declines represent safety improvements in the U.S. healthcare industry, the report said. When compared to the 2015 baseline standardized infection ratio of one, all states performed better on at least two infection types. n Public ED boarding dashboard launches in Connecticut By Mackenzie Bean T he Connecticut College of Emergency Physicians has launched a public dashboard featuring emergency department boarding data from hospitals across the state. e dashboard shows 2024 hospital boarding statistics, including total patients treated and admitted, average wait times and boarding percentages. It also allows consumers to share their ED experiences and ask questions about boarding. e organization created the dashboard "to bring visibility to this growing crisis and support the push for solutions," it said in a Jan. 21 news release shared with Becker's. In 2023, Connecticut became the first state to pass legislation requiring hospitals to report ED boarding data annually through 2029 — an effort aimed at making crowding and delays more visible. e first full year of those reported figures underscores the scale of the issue. Connecticut logged more than 1.6 million ED visits in 2024. Of the 14% of patients who required inpatient care, nearly 40% remained in the ED more than four hours aer admission, according to the dashboard. e dashboard will be updated annually to show hospital-level trends and is supported by a grant from the American College of Emergency Physicians. e launch comes as national data shows ED boarding worsening in recent years, becoming a persistent, year-round bottleneck for hospitals. Against that backdrop, industry experts have increasingly called for public reporting of boarding metrics as a step toward greater transparency and accountability. n 15 most common CMS citations in 2025 By Paige Twenter In 2025, CMS accreditation agencies, such as e Joint Commission and DNV Healthcare, conducted 4,523 surveys at U.S. hospitals. Here were the 15 most common citations from these surveys, according to data from CMS' Quality and Certification Oversight Reports: 1. Patient rights: Care in a safe setting — 267 citations (5% of hospitals were cited for this) 2. RN supervision of nursing care — 257 (4.4%) 3. Patient rights — 208 (4%) 4. Supervision of contract staff — 203 (3.7%) 5. Compliance with 489.24 (transfers) — 197 (4%) 6. Nursing services — 160 (3.2%) 7. Medical screening exam — 150 (3.1%) 8. Nursing care plan — 112 (2.2%) 9. Patient rights: Free from abuse/harassment — 102 (1.9%) 10. Administration of drugs — 88 (1.8%) 11. Patient rights: Informed consent — 81 (1.6%) 12. Patient safety — 69 (1.2%) 13. Infection control surveillance and prevention — 62 (1.2%) 14. Appropriate transfer — 59 (1.2%) 15. Patient rights: Restraint or seclusion — 59 (1.2%) n