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Washington governor signs MRSA screening, testing bill into law

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Washington joined four other states in passing legislation concerning health care-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection when Gov. Chris Gregoire signed into law bill ESHB 1123 this week.

The new law requires hospitals to take specific actions to prevent spread of the infection, track it, report it and screen and test certain at-risk hospital inpatients for colonization and active infection.

Starting on Jan. 1, 2010, hospitals in Washington must collect data on health care-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (HA-MRSA) from patients undergoing hip or knee replacement surgery and some other invasive procedures like cardiac surgery, according to the bill’s text. Specific coding requirements will ensure health officials and policy makers get needed data on the community- and state-wide HA-MRSA incidence.

The number of MRSA infections in Washington state increased about 33-fold from 1997 to 2007, according to an investigation by the Seattle Times. This caused Washington state legislators Rep. Tom Campbell (R-Roy) and Sen. Karen Keiser (D-Kent) to both introduce MRSA hospital screening bills in January.

A modified version of Campbell’s bill, signed this week, unanimously passed the House on March 9 and the Senate on April 13. “It is a pretty progressive and forward-looking piece of legislation,” Campbell, a chiropractor, told Orthopedics Today in an interview.

Campbell’s and Keiser’s bills aimed to slow the spread of HA-MRSA, which can result in extended hospital stays, increased health care costs and sometimes death.

“The MRSA situation has demanded a special look,” noted Campbell, who has championed patient safety and infection reporting.

Since 2007, California, Illinois, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have also passed MRSA screening laws, according to Lisa McGiffert, director of Consumers Union’s Stop Hospital Infections campaign.

While lawmakers elsewhere have introduced similar legislation to stop infections and many already mandate infection reporting, Washington requires that infected patients receive written and oral instructions to prevent spread of HA-MRSA after discharge.

“We think that is a pretty important step,” McGiffert told Orthopedics Today.