99,000 DIE YEARLY FROM PREVENTABLE HOSPITAL INFECTIONS

As many as 99,000 Ameicans die yearly from hospital-acquired infections, state laws are finally forcing hospitals to report the infections.

Early data released by CDC today suggest this is cutting infection rates. But the data paint a bigger picture. Despite the huge size of the problem, most hospitals in most states still haven't come to grips with it.

That's going to change, says Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

"All 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico recently published state action plans to reduce hospital-acquired infections," Sebelius says in a news release.

Its a good start. But it's been a struggle just to get the starting line, says Lisa McGiffert, who as campaign manager for Consumers Union's Safe Patient Project, lobbies states to pass laws requiring public reporting of in-hospital infections.

"When we started, we thought hospitals knew their infection rates and were keeping them secret," McGiffert tell WebMD. "But they were not tracking them at all. If you are not aware of somethig you can't stop it. Where hospitals have been forced to face this and count it, it has created a sea change. The main thing this means is that the CDC has finally embraced public reporting as a component of prevention Strategies."