P058 - Comparison of NHSN CLABSI Rates and Private Client Database of Hospitals Using a Dedicated Needleless Connector Technology to Hospitals Using Different Needleless Connector Technologies

Xiaowu Sun, PhD - Director BioStatistics, CVS Health
Jason Battle, BS - Senior Clinical Research Specialist, ICU Medical

Purpose: : The study purpose is to determine if hospitals utilizing a dedicated needleless connector (NC) technology resulted in reduced Standardized Infection Ratio (SIR) and decreased CLABSI risk compared to hospitals utilizing different NC technologies by descriptive analysis of a national-level repository of publicly reported CLABSI data and a private client database.

Methods: : The National Healthcare Safety Network data was accessed via the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services database for full-year 2019. This data set was merged with the client database during 2019 to identify hospitals using the study Clave needleless connector technologies (CNCT) group versus the group not using CNCT (comparators). Two sub-groups of CNCT are analyzed: (1) CNCT customer and (2) CNCT high-volume customer. The standardized infection ratio (SIR) is calculated as the observed number of CLABSI divided by predicted number of CLABSI. The Relative Risk (RR) is calculated as a comparison of the SIRs and adjusting for care locations, and hospital demographics. The realized cost savings is calculated utilizing the decrease in risk of CLABSI for CNCT and CNCT high-volume use hospital groups.

Results: : For the CNCT hospitals, the RR of CLABSI was 0.93 (p=0.04), representing a 7% decrease. For CNCT high-volume use hospitals, the RR of CLABSI was 0.81 (p=0.04), representing a 19% decrease in RR of CLABSI. The SIR for CNCT hospitals is 0.68 (95% CI 0.66-0.69) and for CNCT high volume use hospitals, the SIR is 0.61 (95% CI 0.54-0.67). In comparison, the non- CNCT hospitals’ SIR was 0.70 (95% CI 0.68-0.72). The realized cost savings for CNCT and CNCT high-volume use hospitals was determined to be $23,738,671 and $3,356,560, respectively.

Limitations:: Nearly 2,000 hospitals were excluded due to non-reporting of CLABSI and/or hospital characteristic data. It is unknown if inclusion of these hospitals would have any effect upon the results. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its noted disruption in hospital facilities, it was determined FY2020 data may not be appropriate.

Conclusions: : Implementation of the CNCT may significantly decrease the risk of CLABSI and may result in significant cost savings. While CLABSI prevention requires a combination of evidence-based strategies, this data demonstrates that the use of the CNCT, in and of itself, is a critical component of reducing the risk of CLABSI.