Inaccurate Reporting of Surgical-Site Infections

Although the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) now requires hospitals to publicly report rates of surgical-site infections (SSIs) for select procedures, standardized surveillance methods have not been mandated. Because of concerns that differing surveillance strategies were leading to variable SSI case detection rates, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) undertook onsite validation of SSI reporting for colon surgery and abdominal hysterectomy cases at 47 volunteer hospitals in 2013.

Using traditional hospital-surveillance techniques supplemented by claims-based surveillance, CDPH investigators identified 239 SSIs that occurred following colon surgery. However, only 120 (50%) had been identified by traditional hos…