Accuracy and reliability of electronic versus CDC surveillance criteria for non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia.

Nonventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia (NV-HAP) is one of the most common healthcare-associated infections, but most hospitals do not track it. We created a pilot electronic definition for NV-HAP and compared its accuracy to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) criteria. Kappa values for the electronic definition and CDC criteria versus "true" pneumonia were similar: 0.40 and 0.47, respectively.