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Reggi Veatch
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Delmarva Recognizes MRSA Awareness Month in October

Columbia, MD, October 20, 2009 –The Delmarva Foundation for Medical Care (DFMC) and the Delmarva Foundation of the District of Columbia (DFDC) are pleased to announce support of MRSA Awareness Month in October to heighten awareness of how MRSA is transmitted and how to protect ourselves and others.

MRSA stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.  These infections are resistant to many antibiotics so it can be hard to treat.  Nationally, MRSA infections kill thousands of people each year and increase health care costs by more than $2.5 billion.

As part of its quality improvement work with healthcare facilities in Maryland and the District of Columbia, Delmarva is working to reduce the number of MRSA infections through its contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

“Nationally, invasive MRSA infections occur in approximately 94,000 persons each year, resulting in about 19,000 deaths each year,” Christian E. Jensen, MD, MPH, Delmarva’s President and Chief Executive Officer.  “At Delmarva, we are working closely with hospitals across Maryland and the District to reduce the incidence and transmission of MRSA.”

“We at CMS are deeply concerned about the upward trend in MRSA infections over the past few decades, particularly in those patients who are already acutely ill enough to require inpatient hospitalization,” said Paul E. McGann, M.D., Deputy Chief Medical Officer of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.  “By working with hospitals across the state, QIOs can serve as go-to resources for slowing—and hopefully one day, stopping—the spread of this debilitating complication of treatment.”

Medicare Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) like Delmarva are working as part of CMS’ National Patient Safety Initiative, which aims to reduce patient harm using proven strategies that improve patient safety.  “Reducing the rates of hospital-acquired MRSA is one of the key areas where we as a healthcare community can come together and implement common-sense solutions to reduce or eliminate causes of patient harm that result from patients’ interactions with the healthcare system, rather than from other causes,”  said Dr. McGann.  “Reducing MRSA rates in healthcare facilities will by definition increase the value of healthcare services as it produces higher quality care for Medicare beneficiaries, and by turn, all patients.”

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About DFMC and DFDC:
Delmarva Foundation for Medical Care, Inc. (DFMC) and the Delmarva Foundation of the District of Columbia (DFDC) are the Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) for Maryland and the District of Columbia.  The QIOs, under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), work to improve the quality of health care for Medicare beneficiaries in Maryland and the District of Columbia.  DFMC and DFDC provide a range of services, including the development of interventional processes, convening healthcare organizations and stakeholders, fostering the spread of clinical or community practices that improve patient safety and healthcare delivery, and lessening the healthcare disparities that exists in our healthcare system.  For more information, visit www.mdqio.org or www.dcqio.org.