A study published in the American Journal of Infection Control found Clostridium difficile increases hospital costs by 40 percent for each infected person, according to an article on the Health Facilities Management website.
The study looked at patients discharged between January 2009 and December 2011 from approximately 500 U.S. hospitals.
Results showed that C. difficile contributed to an average of $7,285 more for each infected patient.
Compared against patients without C. difficile, those infected experienced an estimated 77 percent higher chance of being readmitted within 30 days, 55 percent higher risk of a longer hospital stay of nearly five days and 13 percent higher risk of death.
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