Healthcare-Associated Infections

Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) exact a significant toll on human life. They are among the leading causes of preventable death in the United States, accounting for an estimated 1.7 million infections and 99,000 associated deaths in 2002. In hospitals, they are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. In addition to the substantial human suffering caused by healthcare-associated infections, the financial burden attributable to the infections is staggering. It is estimated that healthcare-associated infections cause $28 to $33 billion in excess healthcare costs each year.

For these reasons, the prevention and reduction of healthcare-associated infections is a top priority for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The HHS Steering Committee for the Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections was established in July 2008. The Steering Committee was charged with developing a comprehensive strategy to prevent and reduce healthcare-associated infections and issuing a plan which establishes national goals for healthcare-associated infection prevention and outlines key actions for achieving identified short- and long-term objectives. The plan is also intended to enhance collaboration with external stakeholders to strengthen coordination and impact of national efforts.

The development process of the HHS Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections was intended to be inclusive. The effort represents a culmination of several months of deliberation by subject matter experts across HHS to identify key actions in the prevention of healthcare-associated infections. The initial version of the Action Plan was released in January 2009. Concurrently, comments were invited from the public.

The Department thanks the organizations and individuals who submitted written comments on the Action Plan. A revision to the Action Plan has been developed which incorporates comments received during this initial comment period. The links listed below will take you to the revised Action Plan document:

Final HHS Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections (complete document, printable PDF - 2.3 MB) (June 2009)

Final HHS Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections (in sections) (June 2009)

Please note the newly added Appendix G regarding revisions to the Action Plan metrics and targets. Additional documents, including a summary of changes to the initial version of the Action Plan and an expanded Executive Summary section, are in development and will be posted soon.

For more information regarding the issue of healthcare-associated infections, contact:
Ms. Rani Jeeva at Rani.Jeeva@hhs.gov (e-mail), (202) 205-5245 (phone), or (202) 690-7425 (fax).

Stakeholder Meetings

The Department is committed to the continuous engagement of stakeholders and the public on the issue of preventing and reducing healthcare-associated infections. To that end, a series of engagement meetings will be held during the summer of 2009. The purpose of the meetings is to obtain feedback from stakeholders regarding the:

Potential for broad adoption of a singular national set of healthcare-associated infection reduction metrics and targets;
Considerations (needs, barriers, and potential solutions) for implementing the Action Plan and achieving the targets;
Considerations for fostering accountability in a multi-faceted approach to reducing healthcare-associated infections; and the
Focus and approach to a national messaging campaign aimed at reducing healthcare-associated infections.

The meetings have taken place or will take place in:

Denver, Colorado
Saturday, July 25, 2009

Chicago, Illinois
Thursday, July 30, 2009

Seattle, Washington
Thursday, August 27, 2009

Chicago, Illinois
Tuesday, September 22, 2009

For more information regarding registration for any of these meetings, contact Ms. Amber Brummer at abrummer@keystone.org or (970) 513-5805 (phone).

State Prevention Plans

The 2009 Omnibus bill required states receiving Preventive Health and Health Services (PHHS) Block Grant funds to certify that they will submit a plan to reduce healthcare-associated infections to the Secretary of HHS not later than January 1, 2010. In order to assist states in responding within the short timeline required by that language and to facilitate coordination with national prevention efforts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has drafted a template to assist state planning efforts in the prevention of healthcare-associated infections.

The template will help to ensure progress towards national prevention targets as described in the HHS Action Plan and provides choices for developing or enhancing state healthcare-associated infection prevention activities. The template is designed to be flexible and accommodate states at different levels of planning. For example if a state has an existing plan, they may choose to incorporate that plan into the template or submit the existing plan in place of the template provided.

A web conference was held on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 to provide additional guidance on the development of state plans, as well as hear questions and concerns related to plan development from those responsible for developing the plans. The presentation from the web conference is available here.

Please note: PowerPoint is a program for creating and viewing presentations and slide shows. These files (.ppt) require Microsoft PowerPoint in order to be viewed. If you do not already have PowerPoint, you can download PowerPoint Viewer for free.

For more information regarding the state plans, including the state healthcare-associated infection plan template, see www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/stateHAIplan.html. If you have any questions related to the development of state plans, please e-mail haistateplans@hhs.gov or contact Ms. Agnes Balla at Agnes.Balla@hhs.gov (e-mail), (202) 205-5320 (phone), or (202) 690-7425 (fax).”