Penn Medicine at Home treats patients in the comfort of their own home, which can lead to more flexibility and independence in their daily routines. In our journey to become a high reliability organization (HRO), we are dedicated to using proven processes within all care settings in order to achieve excellence in patient-centered outcomes.
As a part of Penn Medicine, Penn Medicine at Home has access to some of the most up-to-date and innovative treatments and research. A variety of infusion services can be performed within a home setting, and we work to ensure safe patient care and continued improvement through each approach.
Patients being treated at home may need medication administered within a patient’s vein using a deep intravenous catheter, often called a central line. Medications provided may include chemotherapy, total parental nutrition (TPN), medications for advanced heart disease, antibiotics or biologic therapies.
When you have a central line inserted into a vein, there's a chance it could lead to an infection called a Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infection (CLABSI).
Penn Medicine measures CLABSI for home health patients to provide the highest quality of care at home, improving patient experiences and outcomes.
Central Line Associate Blood Stream Infection at home: How does Penn Medicine perform?
Preventing Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections for all our patients is vitally important to us, which includes patients in our hospitals and those who receive at-home infusion therapies. Our CLABSI rate of infection is based on data across thousands of patients receiving at-home infusion therapies and is calculated monthly based on the number of infections that occur per 1,000 days. This rate has been historically calculated based on therapy days (defined as the total number of days that patients received an infusion therapy per month), however, more recently Penn Medicine at Home transitioned to a calculation based on line days (defined as the total number of days patients had a central line in place per month), which is in line with national guidelines and standards. Additionally, Penn Medicine at Home participates with the National Home Infusion CLABSI Prevention Collaborative to establish benchmark rates and discuss best practices occurring across the country.
The information below shows how Penn Medicine performed as a health system compared to the National Home Infusion CLABSI Prevention Collaborative benchmark rate.
Line Days
Therapy Days
Therapy Days
Central line-associated blood stream infections, Standardized Infection Ratio
A lower number is better because it means that Penn Medicine patients are experiencing fewer infections.
Why is CLABSI Important?
Penn Medicine at Home works to prevent CLABSI and closely monitors patients who receive a central line. Patients with a central line infection often present a fever and are diagnosed through a blood test that returns positive for bacteria growth. If left untreated, CLABSIs can require more advanced care, sometimes resulting in hospitalization or death. Blood culture labs are reviewed monthly for patients with a central line. At-home care providers, specialists and team members work with patients to determine how infections happened and how they can be prevented.
Blood culture labs are reviewed monthly for patients with a central line. At-home care providers, specialists and team members work with patients to determine how infections happened and how they can be prevented.