WASHINGTON – The decision by CMS to discontinue reimbursement for hospital-acquired infections, the rise of statewide infection reporting initiatives and tougher standards from insurance companies are driving rapid growth for infection control surveillance software, according to a new report from research firm KLAS.

Infection control surveillance software offers a potentially powerful way to battle healthcare acquired infections, but until recently, adoption has been slow, the report notes. Now, new financial and regulatory changes have opened the door for rapid growth in this emerging market.
 
The KLAS report, Infection Control: Improving Patient Care and Reimbursements, highlights the recent growth and leading vendors in the market for infection control software, which analyzes data from various hospital departments to identify potential infections.

While KLAS estimates that these systems enjoy only 10 to 15 percent market penetration today, many vendors are experiencing rapid sales growth, researchers say.
 
"The decision by CMS to discontinue reimbursement for hospital-acquired infections has obviously had a direct impact on the adoption of infection control systems," said Steve VanWagenen, KLAS research director and author of the report. "Couple that with initiatives in many states requiring hospitals to report infection control data to the CDC, as well as tougher standards from insurance companies, and these solutions are poised for real growth."

Increase efficiency

Not all of the benefits of automated infection control solutions have been quantified, but virtually all the hospitals surveyed in the KLAS study reported significantly increased staff efficiency, better patient outcomes and improved financial reimbursement - and that they would never return to previous manual workflows.

In terms of functionality, interfacing capabilities - the ability to collect data from various hospital departments - can make or break the value of infection control systems, VanWagenen said.

Healthcare providers reported that all three of the largest vendors in this market offered solid interfaces for laboratory and admissions/discharge data, but other departmental connections still needed development.
 
Infection control software customers are looking for more robust interfaces to areas like the pharmacy, radiology and pathology, VanWagenen said.

"Gathering partial or incomplete data opens the door for inaccurate reporting and improper analysis of the data, which only perpetuates the wild goose chase infection control practitioners have endured for years," said,
 
Three vendor products are rated in Infection Control: Improving Patient Care and Reimbursements: Cardinal Health MedMined, Premier SafetySurveillor and TheraDoc Infection Control Assist.

Among those solutions, Cardinal Health was the top-rated vendor, with a performance score of 93.4 out of 100. Providers cited Cardinal Health's reporting and its unique outsourced data-analysis model as key advantages.

For its part, TheraDoc has been embraced more by larger organizations and academic medical centers, while Premier offers a hosted model that is attractive to some providers. Beyond these three largest vendors, however, the KLAS report also highlights nine other companies that are gaining traction in the market.