Is it financially beneficial for hospitals to prevent nosocomial infections?

Table 4 Summary of extra costs per hospital acquired infection/per patient^a for the hospital and insurer

	1st hospitalization Direct extra cost	Extra cost and opportunity cost due to extra hospital days (number of extra days)	Extra cost due to Readmission	Total extra cost per case
Hospital	USD
CLABSI	− 2360^a	24,585 (18.1)^b	0	22,225
CDI	62^a	0 (7.8)	0	62
SSI	900	2581 (2.8)	1469 ^c	4951
Insurer
CLABSI	–	14,608 (18.1)	− 1201	13,408
CDI	–	5430 (7.8)	5290	10,720
SSI	–	0 (2.8)	2395^c	2395

^a We present the average cost difference per day multiplied by the average extra in-hospital days. The difference was NOT statistically significant and we only present the crude results
^b Extra potential loss due to higher charge for the first 4 ICU days (extra 1360 USD per day)
^c Hospital cost due to readmission within 1 week of discharge; Insurer cost due to readmission after 1 week of discharge
USD US Dollar, CLABSI central-line associated bloodstream infection, CDI clostridium difficile infection, SSI surgical site infection

ISSN: 1472-6963