Infection Control Solutions Bring Value, but Have Room for Improvement

OREM, UT, August 27, 2012 (Press-News.org) Approximately 30 percent of healthcare providers with an infection control system tell KLAS they couldn't live without it but there are tradeoffs. These and several other key findings are highlighted in a newly released KLAS report "Infection Control 2012: Breaking the Barriers and Getting Value."

Based on interviews with numerous healthcare providers, the report also indicated that more than 70 percent of those without a solution haven't been able to justify the expense. Most infection control practitioners, IT directors, and clinical directors use their systems for the burden of increasingly complex, mandatory government reporting. Relatively few say they actively monitor hospital acquired infection rates.

Upcoming government incentives and value-based purchasing may change system usage dramatically. Report author Coray Tate commented, "In an age of analytics, most infection preventionists are still mired in mandatory reporting. But so many requirements are coming down the pike that infection control solutions might go from being nice to have to being a must-have."

Currently, infection control is still a best-of-breed market, with enterprise vendors Cerner and Epic still in development for their solutions. All vendors were reported to have gaps, but small-hospital leader CareFusion led in product training and ease of use. Large-hospital leader Hospira led in good interfacing and mandated reporting. KLAS also reported on performance from vendors Premier, Sentri7 (Wolters Kluwer), Vecna, and VigiLanz.

"Although a system is a hundred times better than paper, all infection control vendors have room to improve their products and bring better value--which will help providers justify buying a system," said Tate.

For more information about how infection control surveillance vendors are performing for different hospital sizes, the report "Infection Control 2012: Breaking the Barriers and Getting Value" is available to healthcare providers online for a significant discount off the standard retail price. To purchase, healthcare providers and vendors can visit www.KLASresearch.com/KLASreports.

About KLAS
KLAS is a research firm on a global mission to improve healthcare delivery by enabling providers to be heard and be counted. Working with thousands of healthcare executives and clinicians, KLAS gathers data on software, services, medical equipment, and infrastructure systems to deliver timely reports, trends, and statistical overviews. The research directly represents the provider voice and acts as a catalyst for improving vendor performance. Founded in 1996, KLAS staff and advisory board average 25 years of healthcare information technology experience. For more information, go to www.KLASresearch.com, email marketing@KLASresearch.com, or call 1-800-920-4109 to speak with a KLAS representative. Follow KLAS on Twitter at www.twitter.com/KLASresearch.