Administrative data has poor accuracy for surveillance of Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia

Surveillance based solely on ICD-10 A41.0, code underestimates the true incidence of SAB even while including non-bacteremic episodes. ICD-10 U90.0 for HA-SAB has even poorer sensitivity and PPV. Laboratory culture results should become the major criterion for ICD-10 coding for SAB to improve the accuracy of surveillance data.