Hospital-acquired infections

According to research published in JAMA Internal Medicine, hospital-acquired infections (HAI) cost approximately $9.8 billion per year, with surgical site infections alone accounting for one-third of those costs.

The most expensive type of HAI are central line-associated bloodstream infections, and they cost an average of $45,814 per patient. Other costly HAIs are catheter-associated urinary tract infections, Clostridium difficile infections, surgical site infections, and ventilator-associated pneumonia.  

Researchers reviewed 37 years’ worth of published medical literature to determine how expensive there HAIs are.