U.S. Needs to Step Up Efforts to Track MRSA Cooperatively

Various bodies in the United States are devoting significant resources to tracking methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections. However, they’re doing so in “silos” with little coordination from one to the next, which is getting in the way of developing strategies to control the spread of MRSA, according to a report published in Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control. At least one of the organizations cited in the report for tracking and reporting MRSA infections, Tricare, which provides care to military personal and families, has ties to urgent care. Just last year, Tricare enrolees won the right to visit urgent care centers when they’re unable to see their usual providers at any time without prior authorization. More broadly, urgent care as an industry has committed to promoting and practicing antibiotic stewardship, one of the keys to combating MRSA, the report says.