Money marks first time Congress appropriates HAI prevention funds
specifically to states
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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today announced plans to distribute $40 million to state health departments to help prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the money will be distributed through cooperative agreements to 49 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico to maximize prevention efforts such as:
* Creating or expanding state and local efforts to implement
recommendations in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services HAI
Action Plan
* Increasing health care facilities’ and health departments’ use of
CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network, a surveillance system that
allows HAI data to be tracked, analyzed and compared for prevention
efforts
* Hiring and training public health staff to promote and lead HAI
prevention initiatives
* Complementing HAI investments from other HHS agencies
“Americans expect to get better when they go to the hospital, not worse”
said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “Unfortunately, every year,
thousands of Americans die from illness they contract after they enter
the hospital. Thanks to Chairman David Obey’s leadership, the Recovery
Act includes critical resources that will help fight these infections
and keep patients safe.”
Efforts will focus on HHS priority targets such as bloodstream
infections, surgical site infections and catheter-associated urinary
tract infections, and will address pathogens such as
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium
difficile (C. diff). The investment represents the first time Congress
has appropriated HAI prevention funds specifically to states.
“We expect these programs to strengthen tracking and prevention of
healthcare-associated infections, enhance facility accountability,
provide data for informed policy, and ultimately save lives,” said CDC
Director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “Funding critical prevention
efforts at state and local levels represents a significant investment
toward elimination of HAIs and improved patient safety.”
CDC estimates that every year, Americans contract 1.7 million infections
while being treated in hospitals. These infections are associated with
approximately 99,000 deaths annually. In addition to the significant
toll on patients’ lives, HAIs represent an estimated $30 billion in
added healthcare costs.
HHS has addressed HAIs by coordinating efforts across the Department and
creating the HHS action plan which includes five-year national
prevention targets to reduce and prevent much of the significant burden
to our nation. One of the goals of the HHS Action Plan is to collaborate
effectively with public and private sector partners to accomplish the
large-scale prevention of HAIs.
For instance, CDC is collaborating with several states that have
demonstrated that implementing CDC’s HAI prevention guidelines and using
NHSN to monitor progress can achieve major decreases in HAIs.
Prevention success can be characterized in a number of ways. Some
states have shown quick reductions after implementing prevention
efforts, and others have sustained low infection rates over an extended
period of time. For example, in the first six months of 2009, compared
to 2008, hospitals in Tennessee achieved a 30 percent reduction of
bloodstream infections associated with central lines (a catheter, or
tube, that is inserted into a major vein or artery, and that ends up
close to or in the heart). In another instance, intensive care units in
a New York state hospital group achieved a 70 percent reduction of
central line-associated bloodstream infections and sustained these rates
for a three-year period.
“Many states and localities have lacked the resources and personnel
needed to appropriately address the HAI burden,” said Marion Kainer,
M.D., M.P.H., director of the Tennessee Department of Health Hospital
Infection and Antimicrobial Resistance Program, and HAI prevention lead
for the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. “This
investment will provide a unique opportunity to make prevention of HAIs
a national accomplishment.”
Background on HAI Investments in the Recovery Act
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Public Law 111-5
(ARRA) was signed into law on February 17, 2009. Within the Recovery
Act, $50 million was appropriated to support states in the prevention
and reduction of healthcare associated infections (HAI). The Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will use $10 million to improve
the process and frequency of inspections for ambulatory surgical
centers, while CDC will allocate $40 million to states to create or
expand state-based HAI prevention collaboration efforts, enhance state
abilities to monitor and track HAIs, and build within health departments
a workforce trained in HAI prevention. For more information on the
Recovery Act: www.recovery.gov. For more information about CDC’s HAI
Recovery Act funding: www.cdc.gov/hai/recoveryact.
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