Maine LD 1687 Define High Risk MRSA and report MRSA
Tomorrow at 1pm at the Cross building in Augusta Maine, LD 1687 will be heard by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. Our work with MRSA legislation in Maine has brought a great deal of attention to Hospital Acquired MRSA and other Hospital Acquired Infections. We currently have high risk MRSA screening in Maine but it is “only a test”. Our fears are that the “test” will be limited and we will still be left with no minimum standard for screening high risk patients in Maine. The law clearly states that there will be “surveillance of all high risk populations” and this is what we expect from out hospitals.
So LD 1687 clearly outlines the necessary steps it will take to make this “test” an ongoing program for the purpose of increasing the safety of all patients in Maine Hospitals. It also outlines the fact that currently we have NO accurate or honest data to use to measure the success of MRSA screening or other prevention measures. So, we absolutely must make MRSA reporting mandatory. Hospitals need to become transparent and accountable for any failures in their systems. We hear all the good things about the lives saved and how they operate as a “family”. There is no denying that Maine Hospitals on the whole do a tremendous job, but there are failures. When a person with no sign of infection enters the hospital and contracts an infection that kills them or disables them………that is failure. These things can no longer be swept under the rug. We need to acknowledge them and fix the problem that created them.
MRSA screening of high risk patients will save lives. And reporting all infecitons will keep hospitals on their toes, but comparing their rates with national averages and also with each other within the state.
Please support LD 1687.
