Noteboom The Law Firm

Universal MRSA Screening Gives VA Positive Results

August 12, 2010 - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities are doing their part to meet the VA's goal of stopping the spread of the super resilient bacterium MRSA within their acute care facilities. They have been very successful in that some of their hospitals have all but eliminated infections within their walls.

Their technique for success is fairly simple: swab every patient walking through the door, and if that person is infected, they are separated from non-infected patients. Screening results have shown 8% of patients coming into VA facilities either have MRSA, or serve as carriers with the ability to infect other people.

Every test costs $25 and takes about two hours for results. According to the VA, the money spent on the initial testing saves them money later treating MRSA, which seemingly flourishes in hospital environments. The initial testing process is used at all 153 nationwide acute care VA hospitals.

From October 2007 to March 2009 the VA experienced a 59% decrease in intensive care unit, hospital-acquired, MRSA infections.  From October 2007 to November 2008 non-ICU cases of MRSA infections dropped 29%. Some VA facilities have been able to reduce their rates close to zero.

Arguments against performing the initial screenings include unnecessary expense, not catching other infection causing bacteria, and no reason universal screening should be performed. The VA responds to critics by saying the initial screenings are only one part of their overall plan in preventing the spread of MRSA. VA officials cannot, however, pin point which step in their plan is the most important.

In the end, the VA believes it is more cost-efficient to perform the universal screenings. There are places where the VA has all but eliminated MRSA infections, and those results are hard to argue with.