Vancomycin-resistant enterococci: an emerging health problem.

Since 1995, KePRO has worked with the peer review organization for 13 other states/commonwealths and the District of Columbia, as well as the Boston Regional Office of the Health Care Financing Administration, in the implementation of the largest study ever conducted involving Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Fifteen Pennsylvania hospitals volunteered to participate in the study, designed to identify and assess the appropriateness of vancomycin use, contributing 19 percent of the total records used in the baseline study. This article, the first of two, describes VRE and its increasing prevalence. In the second installment, we will describe patterns of vancomycin use identified in KePRO's study of participating Pennsylvania hospitals, as well as the steps these hospitals are taking to control antibiotic use. Since all data gathered by KePRO are protected by federal confidentiality guidelines, the facilities that graciously agreed to pioneer KePRO's vancomycin utilization project will not be identified or identifiable.