ODH Issues Order for Monthly C Diff Reporting Throughout State

On Thursday, Ohio Department of Health (ODH) Director J. Nick Baird, MD, signed a Director's Journal Entry ordering Ohio hospitals and long-term care facilities to report both Clostridium difficile cases and total patient-days per month from January through December 2006 to enable calculation of Clostridium difficile rates. The order in part reads, “…Effective July 1, 2006, I hereby authorize an inquiry relating to Clostridium difficile. As part of my inquiry, I order hospitals and long-term care facilities report aggregate numbers of confirmed cases by the close of the month to the local health department. To ensure the information is complete, I order facilities report “0” if no cases occur. Local health departments will then report aggregate cases and total number of patient days at the end of each month to the Ohio Department of Health.” More specific information is available from the department’s Web site at www.odh.state.oh.us/