California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday signed legislation requiring hospitals to test certain patients for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus within 24 hours of admission. The bill (S.B. 1058) also requires hospitals to increase their infection control efforts and report bloodstream infection rates for health care-associated MRSA, clostridium difficile and Vancomycin-resistant enterococcal to the state’s public health department, which will post them online beginning in 2011. A related bill signed into law (S.B. 158) establishes an infection surveillance, prevention and control program at the state health department, and requires hospitals to implement a patient safety plan and facility-wide hand-hygiene program. Jan Emerson, spokesperson for the California Hospital Association, said CHA worked closely with the authors of both bills, adding, “We support public reporting because we believe it can improve patient safety.”