Seattle PI reports on a new study that found pigs and workers on several Midwestern farms are colonized with MRSA.

It's official. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will no longer pay for surgery in which certain “never events” occur: wrong surgery, wrong patient, wrong body part.

Colorado Citizens for Accountability has launched its new patient safety website: PatientsRightToKnow.org. It contains a U.S. map where you can find out what physician background reporting is available in your state.

This week the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services released its “Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections” which sets five-year prevention targets for six major types of infection. Such as (from Table 1): • A 30% reduction in C. difficile • A 25% reduction in urinary catheter infections • A 50% reduction in MRSA infections

Here’s one thing you might not know: On average, doctors and nurses clean their hands between patients only 50% of the time.