Nationwide, there are currently 27 state laws that require public reporting of hospital-acquired infection rates. Two states allow confidential reporting to state agencies, three have voluntary public reporting, and five states have study laws on public reporting. Only 13 states and the District of Columbia have no laws on public reporting of hospital infections, but some of those have pending bills ("State Legislation", March 2010).
North Carolina does not currently mandate public reporting of hospital infection data, but the legislature is moving in that direction. A bill introduced in the NC House last year would have appropriated $1.1 million over two years to create a mandatory statewide surveillance and reporting system for hospital infections. Dismal state finances pushed the bill off the lawmakers’ radar, granting a reprieve to those facilities that are not ready to comply with public reporting. A North Carolina Hospital Association spokesman says that the state isn’t ready for public reporting, asserting that, “inaccurate and insufficient data” could provide as much public harm as benefit (Davis, 2010).
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