MedMined employs the use of advanced analytics to help pinpoint patient population groups that need additional focus or that further evaluation of care. This is accomplished through a patented nosocomial infection marker. That patented algorithm, said Glover, identifies patients who have likely acquired an HAI.

"We utilize algorithms to look at the patient's current condition as we receive them; it's not making the final clinical determination," he said. "The algorithm reviews all of the patients and acts as a filter to narrow the scope of what needs to be evaluated by the clinicians."

Glover said it becomes very challenging for infection preventionists to be able to do whole-house surveillance on all infection types, not just does that are required to be reported to the government.

"Our system uses data mining technology to mine through all the hospital data and identify trends that could be outbreaks or clusters that have occurred that the hospital may not have previously identified. We really look at this technology as identifying the smoke before the fire."

Glover noted that the Affordable Care Act and meaningful use have brought increased visibility to infection prevention efforts to hospital board-rooms across America.

"CMS has a penalty through the Inpatient Hospital Quality Reporting Program related to the reporting of HAIs," he pointed out. "If hospitals fail to meet the reporting requirements to the National Health Safety Network they are at risk for two percent penalty of CMS reimbursement dollars. This has certainly increased visibility as we're moving into value-based purchasing."

Paradise noted that the complexity of health care and the overuse of antibiotics are among the contributors to HAIs.

"There are more central lines, more ventilators, and the surgeries are more complex," she said. "So each time you have more complexity and you add more instrumentation, it just makes it more complex and more opportunities for those germs to get into a person."

The worldwide overuse of antibiotics is also a major concern said Paradise.


"People can go to other countries and sometimes just go into the pharmacy and buy antibiotics without a prescription. People share prescriptions. It's the misuse and overuse of antibiotics that has especially contributed to certain things like Clostridium difficile."

[See also: iPad touch technology tapped to fight infections]