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State health confirms working with UMMC on outbreak of C. diff

By Howard B. Owens

Statement from Tom Allocco, New York Department of Health:

United Memorial Medical Center has properly reported its cases of Clostridium difficile (C. diff) to the State Health Department. The department has been working with United Memorial on the implementation of proper infection-control measures to help reduce the spread of illness. These include proper hand hygiene (simple, but probably the most important control measure), cleaning and disinfecting portions of the facility, and the separation of those who are infected from other patients. The department’s investigation of the outbreak continues. Once the investigation is finalized, the findings will be available. 

Additionally, the state health department has a public report on "Hospital Acquired Infections" that was released in late 2010 and covers data through 2009.

According to the report, in 2009, UMMC performed 28 colon procedures and of those, two patients contracted infections. That puts UMMC's infection rate at 7.1 (a number adjusted to calculate infections per 100 procedures to enable statewide comparisons). New York's infection rate for colon procedures in 2009 was 4.8.  

UMMC's rate of 7.1 is considered within the range of state average.

Strong Memorial's rate for 2009 was 5.5, also within the state average.

In 2008, UMMC's rate was 6.4, the state average was 4.4 and Strong was 4.8

In 2008, Strong performed 327 procedures and there were 16 infections. The following year, Strong performed 317 procedures and there were 17 infections.

Erie County Medical Center performed 86 colon procedures in 2008 and 98 in 2009 with three reported infections in each year. Numbers also fell within the statistical average at Highland Hospital in Rochester, while Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo reported no infections, with about 50 procedures for each year. (For some reason, the report called W&C's zero-infection rate "statistically insignificant" and didn't give it a "blue star" on its report card).

For hip replacement surgery, UMMC's infection rate in 2008 was 3.1, and 2.5 in 2009. Both numbers fall within the range of the state average of 1.1. In 2008, UMMC performed 81 procedures with three infections and in 2009, 84 procedures with two infections. For the same procedure, Strong performed 50 operations in 2008 and 60 in 2009 with no infections.

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