FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Lucia Conti, Manager, Media Relations
Hamot Medical Center
Office: 814-877-2445, Pager: 814-877-0676
Contact: Joe Martin, Communications Director
717-232-6787 or
Erie, PA - September 14, 2006 - On September 14, 2006 at 10:00am in the Hamot Auditorium a press conference will be held to recognize Hamot Medical Center as a leader in Reducing Hospital Acquired Infections. Through collaboration among the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4), Highmark Foundation and MedMined Incorporated, grants were made available to state hospitals who met specific criteria in the area of infection control. Hamot Medical Center is one of 11 hospitals to receive this grant, and Hamot is one of only three hospitals in the state currently using the MedMined system.
MedMined is a leading technology that conducts 24/7 surveillance of infection control data. It tracks an infection from its origin and helps prevent it from occurring again. When PHC4 saw the good work this technology can do to reduce hospital acquired infections, it invited state hospitals to apply for a grant that would help fund the use of MedMined. Hamot was one of the hospitals that has proven this technology works. Because of that, PHC4 chose Hamot to receive the $54,000 grant, titled "Reducing Hospital-Acquired Infections Electronic Surveillance Demonstration," to subsidize the MedMined program for another year.
"This grant is important because it will allow us to continue using this technology for another year," said Emily McCracken, MPH, Hamot's epidemiologist. "Now that we have been using MedMined for four full quarters, we've been able to witness its substantial benefits. For instance, this technology has allowed us to save $300,000 over three quarters by reducing infections."
Approximately 170 hospitals nationwide are also putting the technology to use. In addition to Hamot, Butler Memorial and Hershey Medical Center, eight other Pennsylvania hospitals received this PHC4/Highmark grant. That means eight new hospitals will begin implementing the technology soon.
"Because Hamot adopted MedMined so early, we really paved the way for other hospitals," McCracken said. "Unless you have a tool like MedMined, other ways of tracking this type of information are usually manual, such as sorting through stacks of lab results and having to do a lot of data entry. MedMined allows you to identify the areas that you really need to focus on. It makes you more accountable for what you are doing."
For more information on the grant, PHC4, Highmark and/or the MedMined system, please contact Lucia Conti, Manager of Media Relations.